Early in-person voting began in Georgia on Tuesday, marking some of the earliest votes cast in the U.S. for the 2024 presidential election.
Officials with the Georgia Secretary of State's Office said more than a quarter million people had cast an early vote before 4p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday.
Early in-person voting will be available in the state for at least 16 days and in some cases for as long as three weeks. Certain counties will also accept votes on Sunday, Nov. 1.
Voting begins as a Georgia judge ruled Tuesday that election officials are required to certify the state's votes by 5p.m. on the Tuesday following the election. The ruling means that officials are not permitted to exclude any votes even if they suspect election fraud or other errors.
"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.
The judge also blocked a rule passed earlier this year that required counties to hand-count all ballots, saying such a change would be "too much, too late" ahead of the 2024 election. The judge will now weight that rule on its merits for following elections.
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The rulings add clarity to how Georgia handles its election results, which has seen multiple rule changes ahead of Nov. 5.
In August, the Georgia State Elections Board ruled that counties were required to make a "reasonable inquiry" into the accuracy of results. Proponents say this is so officials can be confident in the accuracy of results — but critics allege the rule would give partisan election board members the ability to stall results.
