Daily US Times: Nearly 2.1 million people have cast ballots in a US Senate runoff election in the state of Georgia that will determine whether Democrats control both chambers of Congress and the fate of Joe Biden’s agenda.
More than a quarter of Georgia’s registered voters have either cast ballots early or through the mail, a sign that turnout in the pair of Senate races will be high. In the state, about 4 million voters cast their votes early in the November election, in which Joe Biden defeated President Donald Trump.
The runoffs pit Democratic challengers Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock against Republican incumbents David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, respectively. The runoff election was necessary because no candidate won more than 50% of the vote on November 3.
Georgia releases information about the number of people who voted, but does not tally their votes until election day.
About 1.3 million voters voted early at in-person polling places, according to the data, while another 721,000 sent ballots by mail. A total of about 1.3 million voters in the state requested mail-in ballots.
The outcome of the race will be crucial in shaping Biden’s agenda after he takes office.
If Republicans win one or both Senate seats in the state, they will retain a slim majority in the chamber and can block the next president Joe Biden’s legislative goals and judicial nominees. If Democrats win both seats, the chamber will be split 50-50, giving the tiebreaking vote to Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
Voting in the Senate runoffs ends on January 5.
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