Black, nonwhite voters on the rise in Georgia, AJC analysis shows | www.myajc.com

A rising tide of African-Americans and other minorities has swelled voting rolls, shrinking whites’ share of Georgia’s electorate to historic lows.

The question now is whether they will show up at the polls, as Democrats challenge the state’s dominant Republicans in tight races for governor and the U.S. Senate.

Black voters in Georgia now make up more than 30 percent of the more than 5.1 million active voters in Georgia, according to a new analysis of the state’s registration database by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. That’s almost 67,000 more black voters than were on the active rolls for the state’s previous midterm election in 2010, when voter interest historically dips because it is a nonpresidential election year.

It also comes as the number of Georgia voters overall has also increased from four years ago, when only half of the state’s active black voters cast ballots.

White voters, meanwhile, continued to decline to less than 58 percent — down from 61.6 percent in 2010. The percentage of active white voters in Georgia slipped under 60 percent for the first time in state history two years ago.

via Black, nonwhite voters on the rise in Georgia, AJC analysis shows | www.myajc.com.