ATLANTA — It's a race to settle the last U.S. Senate seat - and it turns out around 80,000 Georgia voters who didn't chime in during the general election decided to sound off in the runoff.
It's Sen. Rev. Raphael Warnock's second runoff race, and this time he's the incumbent, running against Republican Herschel Walker. Though Warnock edged ahead, neither candidate garnered the required 50% plus one vote needed to avoid a rematch. As people headed to the polls Tuesday, early data is hinting at how the election may have mobilized voters.
Independent data shows 77,897 runoff voters did not vote during the midterm. Gabriel Sterling, of Georgia's Secretary of State's Office, said during an afternoon news conference that the total was 80,000 voters.
A majority of those voters identify as Hispanic or part of the Asian American Pacific Islander communities, according to independent data. Voter engagement groups said they have been targeting registered voters who don't always make it to the polls during election time, with some groups saying the runoff may be the first time people have voted in several cycles.
A closer look at the numbers shows younger voters were pulled to the polls. People younger than 30 voted early in the runoff - though they didn't vote in the general election, data from GeorgiaVotes.com reveals.
Though the turnout for the runoff has been astonishing, as Georgia broke early voting records for the race already, 887,642 people who did vote early in the general election have yet to make it back to the ballot box. Of course, this data can change Tuesday once the polls close.