ATLANTA --- Nearly 40 percent of Georgia's more than 220,000 early voters are black, in what could be a promising sign for Sen. Barack Obama's efforts to turn Georgia from red to blue in his presidential bid.
Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel's office said Friday that more than 86,000 of the 223,000 voters who have voted early were black. That's about 39 percent of Georgia's early voters and a disproportionate hunk of Georgia voters.
Figures from Oct. 1 show blacks make up 29 percent of the 5.6 million registered voters in the state. Black voters cast 25 percent of the total votes in the presidential election four years ago.
About 203,000 voters cast their ballots in person, while 20,000 voted by mail. More than 72,000 of the votes came from the metro Atlanta counties of Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb and Gwinnett. DeKalb County led the vote with more than 24,000 votes.
REGISTRATION DEADLINE
Today is the deadline in South Carolina to register to vote in the November election.
Stuart Bedenbaugh, the director of voter registration and elections in Aiken County, said registration has been heavy.
"Since Sept. 15, we have registered over 2,600," he said.
For those waiting until the last minute, the voter registration office on Vaucluse Road in Aiken will be open from 9 a.m. to noon. Those wanting to register will need to bring their South Carolina driver's license and must be at least 18 or will turn 18 by Nov. 4.
The deadline to register to vote in Georgia is Monday.
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