ATLANTA—Early in-person voting is now underway in key swing state Georgia.

Also known as advance voting in the Peach State, it started on Oct. 15, about a week after absentee ballots were sent out to voters who requested them. Advance voting lasts until 5 p.m. on Nov. 1, a few days before Election Day, Nov. 5.

At a news conference on the morning of Oct. 15, Georgia’s state elections director, Blake Evans, praised local elections officials for opening all early-voting locations, including in counties affected by Hurricane Helene.

Gabriel Sterling, chief operating officer of Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office, said on Oct. 16 that the state broke its early-voting record on Oct. 15.

“So with the record breaking 1st day of early voting and accepted absentees we have had over 328,000 total votes cast so far,” Sterling wrote in a post on social media platform X.

Outside an early-voting location in Smyrna, Georgia, on Oct. 15, voter Geert Loeffen told The Epoch Times, “It’s great to see so many people out, because if you’re not engaging in it, then you really shouldn’t be complaining about it.”

On the afternoon of Oct. 15, cars packed the parking lots ringing the Smyrna Community Center. It’s one of multiple early-voting sites in Cobb County, a battleground county within the larger battleground state.

Loeffen was one of multiple voters who spoke with The Epoch Times. Saying he is an independent, he declined to share whether he supported former President Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris

While he worries about ideological echo chambers, Loeffen said he thinks Smyrna has done well uniting locals at a time of heightened polarization.

“They do so many things to bring the community together that [are] nonpolitical,” he said.

Loeffen described the presidential race in his state as “tight.”

“It’s the margins that make the difference,” he said.

Although some were hesitant to reveal their choices, Dolly Quigley and Beverly Miller, who were walking together through the parking lot after casting their ballots, were eager to share that they had not voted for Trump.

“In my own personal family, there are five of us, and I have three family members who are voting for Trump. It’s just killing me,” Quigley said.

Geert Loeffen voted early in Smyrna, Ga., on Oct. 15, 2024. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

Miller, who is African American, said she struggled to understand how some young black and Hispanic men could support Trump.

The two retirees both relocated to Georgia from elsewhere relatively recently—Quigley came from Rhode Island and Miller moved from California.

Leonard Freedman, a retired U.S. Customs regional director, voted at the community center in the morning. The Epoch Times caught him in the afternoon, when he was walking his dog, Oscar Bonner, along a trail near the community center.

Dolly Quigley (L) and Beverly Miller (R) after participating in advance voting in Smyrna, Ga., on Oct. 15, 2024. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

“I was happy to vote for Donald Trump. We were at peace. The economy was pretty good,” Freedman said.

“I have voted for Democrats over the years, but they’re not the same Democrats that are running now.”

The former federal law enforcement officer referenced the state of the southern border.

“The border has to be protected, and it’s not happening now,” Freedman said.

Leonard Freedman and his dog, Oscar Bonner, in Smyrna, Ga., on Oct. 15, 2024. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

The day before early voting started, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney ruled that county superintendents must certify results a week after the election, in line with the state’s timeline.

“No election superintendent (or member of a board of elections and registration) may refuse to certify or abstain from certifying election results under any circumstance,” the judge wrote in his opinion.

McBurney held that election certification is “a purely ministerial task that gives its performer no discretion to exclude some votes while counting others.”

The state didn’t extend the state’s voter registration deadline in the aftermath of Helene, defeating a lawsuit supported by, among others, the American Civil Liberties Union.

Early in-person voting began on Oct. 9 in another battleground state, Arizona. It will start in the upcoming days and weeks in North Carolina, Nevada, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

This article was updated to include the record early-vote numbers for Oct. 15.