Alexander Stephens was sworn-in as Governor of Georgia on November 4, 1882; Stephens had earlier been elected Vice-President of the Confederate States of America.
Howard Carter found an entrance to the tomb of King Tutankhamen on November 4, 1922.
On November 4, 1932 Georgia Governor Richard B. Russell, Jr. campaigned on behalf of Democratic candidate for President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
On November 4, 1980, Republican Ronald Reagan was elected President, winning 489 electoral votes to 49 for incumbent Jimmy Carter.
Note on the electoral map in that clip, states that Reagan won were colored blue, and Georgia was a red state, going for Jimmy Carter.
On November 4, 2008, Barack Obama was elected President, becoming the first African-American elected to the position.
David Perdue was elected to the United States Senate on November 4, 2014.
Republican David Perdue won the Senate race against Democrat Michelle Nunn, helping the GOP secure majority control of the Senate.
“This has been a wild ride,” he told supporters at a victory celebration. “The one thing that I’ve taken away from all of this is that you want to change the direction of our country. I think Georgia’s made it loud and clear tonight.”
Perdue succeeded in nationalizing the race for many voters, making it a referendum on President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Obama’s job approval stands at 37% in Georgia, while 55% disapprove of the job he’s doing, according to a recent Public Policy Polling survey.
At the polls Tuesday, that was the case for a number of voters who said they were voting for Perdue to send a message to Obama and Reid by trying to shift control of the Senate to Republicans.
“I feel like the country’s not going in the right direction,” said Denise Miller, casting her ballot for Perdue in Atlanta’s Buckhead neighborhood. Miller said her vote for Perdue was a vote for change. “Change in the Senate,” she elaborated.
Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections
Rise and shine! Today is Election Day until 7 PM. Log onto the Secretary of State’s MVP page to check your voter registration and where you can vote.
Note that City of Atlanta polling locations will stay open until 8 PM, according to the AJC.
Atlanta voters will have until 8 p.m. to make it to the polls on Election Day and cast their ballots for local races.
It’s an hour longer than planned. Fulton and DeKalb county polling locations were originally slated to close at 7 p.m. after guidance from the Georgia Secretary of State’s office advised that voting in the special election for the Public Service Commission was required by state law to end then.
In response, Atlanta filed a lawsuit against Fulton and DeKalb to keep polls open until 8 p.m.
Monday afternoon, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Melynee Leftridge ruled that all 81 city polling locations will stay open the extra hour, but voters who arrive between 7-8 p.m. won’t be allowed to vote in the special election and be required to cast provisional ballots.
Atlanta’s lawsuit cited “improper directions” from the secretary of state’s office to county officials that say polls “must close by 7:00 p.m.” because of the special election.
Fulton County’s election director sent an email to the secretary of state’s office in July, asking whether the special Public Service Commission election — which shares a ballot with the municipal races — would have an impact on the polls’ closing time, according to emails included in the lawsuit.
An elections attorney for the secretary of state advised county officials that state law mandates polls close by 7 p.m.
“This special election is not limited to a City of Atlanta municipal election; it is being held in conjunction with a statewide special General Election,” the attorney wrote. “Therefore, it is governed by the same legal provisions that apply to special General Elections under the Elections Code … and must adhere to the 7:00 p.m. closing time.”
After 3,814 Bulloch County citizens – or just over 7% of the county’s 53,749 eligible registered voters – cast ballots early, the county’s 16 traditional precinct voting places are open for the remaining more than 92% of voters 7 a.m.- 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 4.
Countywide, the ballot features two questions on sales taxes, the E-SPLOST and FLOST. Statewide, the ballot also includes contests for two seats on the Georgia Public Service Commission. Only Statesboro city voters should see the mayoral choice between incumbent Mayor Jonathan McCollar and challenger Raymond Harris, while just those Statesboro voters who reside in Council District 1 are also deciding a rematch between incumbent Councilmember Tangie Reese Johnson and challenger John Grotheer.
“E-SPLOST” refers to the five-year extension of the existing Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, proposed by the Bulloch County Board of Education to fund completion of the planned new Southeast Bulloch High School, plus annual “capital” purchases of things such as school buses, instructional materials and technology infrastructure, and potentially other renovation and construction projects.
“FLOST” is the proposed creation of a new, “ninth penny” Floating Local Option Sales Tax by Bulloch County and the municipalities of Statesboro, Brooklet, Portal and Register for the purpose of a proportional rollback of their property taxes.
Pre-Election Day voting turnout numbers are from a chart released by Bulloch County Election Supervisor Shontay Jones after the last of 16 days of in-person advanced voting – including 14 weekdays and two Saturdays – concluded at 5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 31. The countywide total of 3,814 early voters included 3,718 who voted in-person plus 96 who had returned absentee ballots previously mailed to them.
Election Day reminders include to bring your driver’s license, government-issued ID or other state-accepted form of photo ID and report to your assigned voting precinct. Voters can find directions to their polling place by logging in at https://mvp.sos.ga.gov/s/ with their first initial, last name, county and date of birth.
Early voting ended Friday with 4,988 voters casting a ballot at one of the three early voting locations, according to the Glynn County Board of Elections. An additional 107 cast mail-in ballots for a total turnout in Glynn County of 5,095 or 8.5% of the registered electorate.
By the time early voting polls closed Friday, 2,012 ballots had been cast on St. Simons Island, 1,549 at the downtown Brunswick polling location and 1,427 at the Ballard Community Center.
Early voting wrapped up Friday, and only 8.9% of registered voters in the state of Georgia turned out to vote.
In Chatham County, 8.1% showed up to the polls where the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, or SPLOST, is on the ballot.
Last year, early voting turnout was much higher; however, even year elections normally attract more voters, especially given that the presidential election was on the ballot in 2024.
The Elections Director at the Georgia Secretary of States Office says even though odd year elections usually have a lower voter turnout, they’re still extremely important.
“We want to make sure that when people show up to vote, they get the right ballot. That people when they show up to vote on election day, they vote without issues at their polling locations. And we want to make sure the experience is as smooth as possible for our voters and that the elections are conducted as fairly and lawfully as possible,” said Elections Director Blake Evans.
Evans also says, “the people that represent you at a local level are extremely important to your everyday life, and then also, statewide. So, regardless of whether you live in a city or whether you live out in the county somewhere, you still have something to vote on this time around.”
Within one hour of polls closing, the early voting and majority of absentee ballot results will be posted.
Election day results will start coming in shortly after polls close as well. Timing depends on how far away a polling location is to its local elections office.
Tuesday is your final opportunity to vote in this year’s election. Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m.
“We’ve had a very, very good turnout compared to the other three elections we’ve had this year, where the turnout was very small all three times,” said Elections Officer Billy Wooten.
It has been a busy year for elections in Chatham County. Wooten said seeing more than 15,000 early voters is a positive shift heading into Election Day.
“There’s a lot of local interest because there are people on the ballot that folks will know, maybe your neighbors, people you go to church with, or others you have a connection with,” Wooten said.
He said local interest could boost turnout even more. Voters in Thunderbolt, Port Wentworth, Garden City, Bloomingdale, Vernonburg and Tybee Island will decide on municipal leadership.
Countywide, residents will also weigh in on SPLOST, and statewide, voters will decide on Georgia’s Public Service Commission.
“We have a large voice in how Georgia elections go. We’re the fifth-largest county for voter registrations,” Wooten said. “We’re the largest county outside of the metro Atlanta area, so people look at Chatham, they look at the turnout here and what the trend is here. Chatham is an important county for state results, and voters should take that seriously.”
Two candidates are battling for the District 2 Columbia County Commission seat as voters head to the polls Tuesday.
Republican Jim Steed and Democrat Howard Johnson are running to fill the seat vacated by Trey Allen, who left to join the Trump administration. The winner will join fellow commissioners in one of the largest counties in the CSRA.
When asked about the data center issue, Steed said he makes decisions on facts, not speculation.
“Until I know the facts, you know, if it’s good for the county, I’ll vote for it. If it’s not good for the county, I’ll vote against it,” Steed said.
Johnson said he wants to examine the requirements carefully.
“I’d like to take a look at what the requirements are going to be and make sure that the people of Columbia County are looked after and not just the businesses that are coming in,” Johnson said.
On the library issue, Steed supports the commission’s move toward independence.
“It’s just a matter of being independent so we can kind of protect where we put books. I don’t believe in any books being banned. I just think they’re being put in the appropriate places,” Steed said. “There are a lot of parents who would rather raise their kids and not have the library raise them or the government raise them. I think it’s a smart move by the Commission to do that.”
Johnson opposes the change to a single county library system.
“I think there’s risk there as the Board of Commissioners has gotten more involved in the reshelving guidelines and deciding where books belong, by having that in the hands of elected officials rather than trained professional librarians, it’s just a dangerous path to be walking,” Johnson said.
Both Richmond and Columbia counties have homestead exemption questions on the ballot. Other local races include the mayor of Blythe with three candidates running and two council member seats, along with Hephzibah races.
The Richmond County District 4 race features Tanya Barnhill-Turnley and Lonnie Wimberly. Barnhill-Turnley has been in office since former District 4 Commissioner Alvin Mason resigned.
The [Augusta] District Four Commission race between Tanya Barnhill-Turnley and Lonnie Wimberly is gathering the most interest in this election.
“In District 4, which I expect the highest turnout to be in Commission District Four, of course you had the resignation of Alvin Mason. Tanya Barnhill-Turnley was appointed as interim,” said Elections Director Travis Doss.
And this ballot question that sets a 3.2 percent cap, on property reassessments. Voters may be little confused by that one.
Doss says the election’s office is getting a lot of questions about this question, but understands.
“Even though homes in your area maybe selling for higher, it does limit how much your home value can go up over a period of time,” he said.
Because of the statewide PSC race, all of Augusta’s polling sites will be open Tuesday, but Doss does not expect them to be busy. He is predicting only a 10-15 percent turnout.
Polls are now open for the 2025 municipal elections in Georgia.
There are contested elections across the region, including mayoral races in Braselton, Jefferson, Lula and Sky Valley. There is also a contested school board race in Gainesville and several contested city council races.
In Hall County, voters across the county will also be voting on a Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax referendum. The county has had a SPLOST in place since 1985, with the most recent one being approved by voters in 2019. The one currently on the ballot would be SPLOST IX.
City of Rome voters are choosing three city commissioners and seven members of the city school board.
Countywide, voters are deciding the fate of a one-penny sales tax to offset a portion of property taxes and referendums to allow Sunday sales and liquor by the drink sales in unincorporated Floyd County.
There are also two races for the Georgia Public Service Commission on the ballot.
In Cave Spring, voters are deciding three city council races.
Kristi Reed and Nancy Fricks are running in Post 3.
Incumbent Charles Jackson and Greg Webb are vying for Post 4.
In Post 5, the contest is between Warren Baker Harbin and Tom Lindsey.
3,830 Floyd County voters cast their ballots in advance during early voting.
The results of an unusual off-year special election for two seats on the Georgia Public Service Commission are being closely watched as a key indicator of voter sentiment heading into the critical 2026 midterm election.
Whereas Republicans say they are running on a track record of producing reliable energy, Democratic leaders have framed the PSC election as a referendum on rising energy bills and Republican leadership, calling it the most direct way for consumers to express their policy preferences around utility affordability.
The commission regulates utilities like electricity and natural gas, giving the little-known panel a say over how much Georgians pay for those services and the energy sources used to power Georgia’s grid. The five commissioners serving today are all Republican.
“If we win on Tuesday, it is going to be the voters telling Republicans, ‘we’re sick of it,’” said Democratic Party of Georgia Chairman Charlie Bailey in an interview Monday.
This year’s election, delayed since 2020 by litigation challenging the commission’s at-large voting system, features two Republican incumbents defending their seats against Democratic challengers who have centered their campaigns on energy affordability and a series of six Georgia Power rate increases in two years.
A Democratic victory in either or both races would be the first time the party has won a statewide constitutional office since 2006. Even two wins Tuesday would not change the partisan control of the commission, but it would provide significant momentum for the 2026 elections, which include an open race for governor and the reelection bid of U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff.
Georgia’s election is also attracting national attention. Democratic National Committee vice-chair Jane Kleeb dropped into Georgia this week to lend a hand.
“These Public Service Commission races are so critical, not only for what they’re in charge of with utility and affordability and energy mix, but for next year, when Ossoff is on the ballot, you need that momentum,” Kleeb said.
Republican incumbents lean on ‘reliable’ voters
Republicans, including Gov. Brian Kemp, have campaigned to rally their base, partly by trying to tie Democratic candidates in Georgia to national Democrats and energy policies that tend to galvanize right-leaning voters.
Fitz Johnson, the Republican incumbent in District 3 who was appointed by Kemp in 2021, has defended Georgia’s mix of nuclear, natural gas, coal and renewables as balanced and the best way to keep energy reliable and rates affordable. He has attributed price spikes to nationwide inflation and the costs associated with the Plant Vogtle nuclear expansion project, which was billions of dollars over budget and years behind schedule.
Both Johnson and Tim Echols, the Republican incumbent from District 2, also backed a proposal this year to freeze Georgia Power base rates until 2028, although the arrangement will not shield ratepayers from bill increases to pay for hurricane cleanup and other costs. Echols said the freeze was a necessary measure for customers to recover from “the vast inflation we have experienced since the pandemic.”
While emphasizing grid reliability and economic development, Republicans have also resorted to identity politics and charged terms, with Echols labeling his opponent, Alicia Johnson, as a “DEI specialist,” based on language she had in her biography. She has rebuffed the attack as a “racist, MAGA dog-whistle,” saying that “it’s a reflection of him, not me.”
The Georgia Republican Party has also tried to link the two Democratic candidates to New York candidate for mayor Zohran Mamdani and national Democrats like U.S. Reps. Nancy Pelosi and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. That move, Georgia Republican Party Chairman Josh McKoon said, is designed to bring out reliable Republican voters who “tend to show up every time there’s an election, (but) that have not shown up this time.”
“That has to do with the fact that there are a lot of voters remaining out there to turn out who will respond to a message highlighting the partisan differences,” McKoon said.
Democratic candidates bank on affordability
Democrats are banking on widespread voter frustration over recent rate hikes. Georgia Power residential customers are paying about $43 more per month since 2023 to cover rate increases, fuel expenses and costs from the Plant Vogtle nuclear expansion, translating to an additional $500 the average customer pays in energy cost per year.
Alicia Johnson, the Democrat running for District 2, is advocating for increased scrutiny of utility spending, more clean energy adoption and greater consumer protections. She has centered her campaign on affordability and reliability, saying that 47% of Georgia’s households face financial “volatility and precariousness.”
The winner in District 2 will serve for five years until 2030.
Peter Hubbard, the Democrat in District 3, is a clean energy advocate who has intervened in PSC proceedings since 2019, where he has served as an expert witness. He has criticized the incumbents’ approval of the series of rate hikes and said he can lower Georgians’ power bills by shifting away from fossil fuels, adopting more renewable energy, along with limiting Georgia Power’s guaranteed profit margin.
If Hubbard wins, he will only serve one year before having to defend his seat in 2026, when he’ll be up for reelection with Tricia Pridemore, a commissioner since 2018. If the two serve together, they have signaled that they are likely to be at odds with each other. Pridemore posted on social media on Halloween a text she received from Hubbard that called her “Bribemore,” saying that Hubbard called her a “nasty name.”
Hubbard has repeatedly said that he thinks he’d be able to work well with “at least two” of the Republican commissioners not up for reelection if elected and said Saturday while campaigning in Lawrenceville that Pridemore is “not a pleasant person” and often unwilling to listen to expert witnesses. When asked, he did not deny sending the text but said it was “a bad case of an autocorrect mistake.”
Here are some of the key races on the ballot across the region:
Public Service Commission: Two statewide seats are on the ballot, District 2 and District 3. The Republican incumbents in both districts face Democratic challengers.
Atlanta mayor: Andre Dickens is seeking reelection to a second and final term. He faces three challengers, all political newcomers: Eddie Andrew Meredith, a community advocate and minister; Helmut Domagalski, a consultant; and Kalema Jackson, a former Atlanta police officer.
Atlanta City Council president: Two-term Council member Mari Collier Overstreet is running against progressive nonprofit founder Rohit Malhotra for a position that runs Council meetings and makes committee appointments.
Atlanta City Council: Twelve incumbents are seeking reelection, and five face challengers. Three council seats are wide-open without an incumbent running: District 2, District 7 and District 11.
Small city mayors: South Fulton’s mayor, who has faced controversy for his spending of taxpayer money, faces eight challengers. Mayors in Marietta, Roswell, Sandy Springs and Stone Mountain also face challengers.
School elections: Four of the nine seats on the Atlanta school board are up for grabs, as are three school board seats in Decatur and each of the seven seats on the Marietta school board. In Gwinnett County, a penny-per-dollar sales tax referendum to fund education projects is on the ballot.
Atlanta voters will head to the polls today and cast ballots for mayor, Atlanta City Council president and all 15 council district seats.
But about 11% of those registered already voted.
An analysis of advanced voting numbers by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution found about 46,500 residents took advantage of the early voting period from Oct. 14-31.
Voter turnout in local elections is historically low, even in 2021 during the crowded mayoral race, where incumbent Mayor Andre Dickens faced off against multiple high-profile challengers.
A majority of early Atlanta voters ranged from age 45 to more than 65, with numbers for younger residents dropping off significantly. Only about 4,300 voters age 18 to 29 voted early.
Around 14% of the city’s white voters cast early ballots, compared to just under 10% of Black voters, according to the AJC analysis.
A geographic breakdown of active registered voters who turned out during early voting by The Center for Civic Innovation gives insight into what areas of the city saw the highest numbers.
Atlanta City Council District 11 — where eight candidates are vying for the open seat — saw the highest turnout ahead of Election Day, followed by Districts 2 and 5 on the city’s east side.
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