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It’s Election Day! Follow our live blog
Election Day for the 2026 midterm primaries is upon us! This week’s Voter Voice features Jessica B. in West Atlanta, who says healthcare reform “to break the link between health and wealth” is her top issue. She plans on voting today, after spending the weekend researching candidates.
There’s a lot on the ballot: All 14 of Georgia’s congressional districts, as well as every state legislative seat, the governor’s and attorney general’s offices, and other key state and county races.
Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. today, and you must vote at your assigned polling place. If you don’t know where that is, check the Georgia Secretary of State’s My Voter Page. 🪪 Don’t forget your photo ID!
Throughout the day and into the evening Atlanta Civic Circle will liveblog election updates to bring you voter voices, analysis and results after the polls close.
This year, we’ve partnered with Atlanta Community Press Collective and Capital B News — Atlanta to give you the most comprehensive coverage in town.
📷: Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon
Our advance guide to your ballot
Still trying to make heads and tails of your ballot? We’ve got you covered: Here’s our ballot walkthrough for who’s running in the Democratic, Republican and nonpartisan primaries.
You can also use our Build Your Ballot tool, embeded in the above links, to learn more about the candidates and build a sample ballot you can print to take with you in the voting booth.
Remember, nonpartisan races for judges and, in some counties, school board members are on all ballots and will be decided today. These include judicial races from county courts all the way up to the Georgia Supreme Court.
Early primary turnout signals high Democratic enthusiasm
Just over a million Georgians have voted early, according to the Secretary of State’s Election Data Hub. That represents 14% of the Peach State’s almost 7.4 million active voters.
So far, Democratic primary voters make up 56.7% of the turnout, compared with just 41.7% for Republicans. If that 15-point turnout margin for Democrats holds on Election Day, it would indicate a massive blue swing in almost every single one of Georgia’s 159 counties. Democratic early voter turnout increased in all but four counties for this primary from the 2022 midterms, according to Georgia Votes.
In metro Atlanta, the blue shift ranged from a 5.5 percentage point increase in Clayton County to a 19.9 point jump in Cobb County. Rural Treutlen County, population 6,466, led the state in the leftward swing with a whopping 27.6 percentage point increase in Democratic primary voters.
The biggest red shift, by comparison, was in Dodge County, with a 3.3 percentage point increase in GOP primary voters. Incidentally, Dodge, which is in Middle Georgia like Treutlen, is where progressive Georgia Supreme Court challenger Jen Jordan (a former Democratic state senator for Decatur), is originally from.
Election Day turnout in Georgia historically favors Republicans, so we’ll be watching the returns closely.
Sports betting PACs dominate outside election spending
Sports betting PACs have poured over $10 million into Georgia’s legislative primaries on both sides of the aisle, making them the top independent spenders for statehouse races.
American Future, which backs Democratic candidates, and American Conservative Fund Action Georgia, which backs Republicans, have put their finger on the scale in nearly 40 house and senate primaries, according to their April campaign finance disclosures. That totals $10.6 million, including additional disclosures filed since our story was published.
Here’s our full report.
American Future has spent an eye-popping $354,000 on one Democratic candidate, Kenn Collier, for Atlanta’s heavily blue House District 62. Our friends at Atlanta Community Press Collective took a closer look at the four-way Democratic primary.
We’ll be keeping an eye on today’s primary results to see if the sports betting industry knows how to pick a horse.
At City Council: Atlantans push for Eastside tram, TAD legislation drops, and city auditor retires
Monday’s Atlanta City Council meeting had a packed agenda. Dozens of Atlantans turned out for public comment to support light rail (aka, a tram) on the Eastside Beltline – and oppose Councilmember Mary Norwood’s proposal to use the land set aside for light rail for a bike lane instead, adjacent to the paved path.
At-Large Councilmember Michael Julian Bond also introduced an ordinance to extend the lifetimes of six of the city’s TADs (tax allocation districts) to 2056, as the primary funding mechanism for Mayor Andre Dickens’ Neighborhood Reinvestment Initiative. The proposal would allow the Beltline and Perry Bolton TADs to expire as scheduled in 2030 and 2041, respectively. Stay tuned for details from Housing Reporter Sean Keenan.
The council honored City Auditor Amanda Noble with a proclamation to mark her retirement last month, as the office’s independent board embarks on a search for a new auditor. Here’s our explainer on how the city auditor’s role is different from those of the city’s other two watchdogs, the Office of the Inspector General and the Ethics Office.
Councilmember Kelsea Bond made their first-ever proclamation, honoring Brian Goldstone for his Pulitzer Prize for “There Is No Place For Us: Working and Homeless in America,” his portrait of five metro Atlanta families. Check out our review of the book.
VOTER VOICE
Jessica B.
Occupation: Office worker looking to start her own business
Age: 49
Political Affiliation: Democrat
Neighborhood: Center Hill, West Atlanta
The conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
ACC: Election Day for the midterm primaries is tomorrow (May 19). Have you voted yet?
Jessica B.: No, I’m going to vote on Election Day. I was thinking I’d vote early on Friday, but I have a bit more research to do over the weekend.
What issues are most important to you?
Healthcare reform, gun control legislation, immigration policy, ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment, and affordable housing. I want someone to go after the private equity firms that own single family and multifamily homes in Atlanta.
What races are you most tuned into?
Governor and attorney general.
Have you figured out who you are voting for and why for those races?
I decided on [Keisha Lance] Bottoms [for governor]. I was also considering [Jason] Esteves. The challenge that I’ve had with the governor’s race is that I hadn’t found out enough information on the candidates. I already had a good idea of who Bottoms is, but it was hard to find enough specifics to compare to the others.
For attorney general I’m voting for [Tanya] Miller. I like her stance on everything – especially criminal justice reform and how to approach recidivism.
What’s one thing you wish your elected leaders understood?
The need for overall reform in healthcare — breaking the link between health and wealth. Healthcare should be available for all. And we need to return to the rights we had before Roe v. Wade was overturned. It all just boils down to equal rights.
Today’s Democracy Digest was written by Alessandro Marazzi Sassoon and edited by Meredith Hobbs. As always, thank you for reading and supporting local journalism. We’re proud that ACC’s election coverage is free for everyone — but it’s not free to produce.