Judge Will Allow Saturday Voting Before Senate Runoff

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thomas Cox decided today that Saturday voting will be allowed prior to the December 6 Senate runoff between the incumbent, Raphael Warnock and his Republican opponent, Herschel Walker.

Cox ruled that county governments will be able to choose whether polling places will be allowed to open on Saturday, November 26, even though it follows the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday and the day after, which for years honored Robert E. Lee's birthday.  There will be five mandatory weekdays of early voting from November 28 through December 2.

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger had recently announced there would be no Saturday voting before the Senate runoff, according to state law.  A lawsuit was filed this week by the Democratic Party of Georgia and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, claiming that eliminating that day of weekend voting reduces voting opportunities.

Cox's order today reverses Raffensperger's interpretation of the law.  He said that only applies to regularly scheduled elections, not Georgia's quick runoff election that leaves limited early voting days.

In the past, runoffs were held nine weeks after the general election, but Georgia's new voting law moved runoffs to four weeks after the election.  That created a scheduling conflict with holidays during Thanksgiving week.