Originally posted by MCO Group on October 23, 2026

01. Record Early Voting Blows Past 1 Million

Georgia crossed one million in-person early votes at noon Tuesday (1,007,015), up 12% from the same point in 2022, with total accepted ballots at 1,055,931 after 48,916 absentee ballots were counted. By Thursday morning the state tracker showed 1,330,455 ballots cast. The first day alone saw 190,394 in-person ballots, a 40% jump over 2022 and more than double 2018. The caveat: the boom is entirely in-person. Mail voting has plummeted, with the absentee request window closing this week.

02. Governor's Race Locked Statistical Tie at Homestretch

The AJC/UGA poll of 1,000 likely voters (fielded Oct. 7–15) had Rick Jackson at 46% and Keisha Lance Bottoms at 45%, with 8% undecided. A Quantus Insights poll (755 likely voters, Oct. 15–17) put Jackson up 1.6 points, 49–47.5 once leaners were factored, within a 3.8-point margin of error. Both candidates worked the state hard: Jackson campaigned in Macon and Perry on Thursday, touting a flat-property-tax pledge paired with a county budget transparency requirement, while Bottoms stumped in Atlanta. Jackson announced he would skip this weekend's Trump rally in Perry, a notable distance-keeping move in a race decided in the center, where the same polling shows Jackson leading 57–43. Trump campaigned with Jackson and Senate nominee Mike Collins in Dalton on Oct. 16, and Obama and Harris are due in for Bottoms and Ossoff starting Oct. 28.

03. Downballot Statewide Races Deadlocked; PSC Majority Play

The AJC reads Georgia's down-ballot races as deadlocked across the board. The lieutenant governor's race is the tightest: Republican state Sen. Greg Dolezal led Democratic state Sen. Josh McLaurin 47.3–46.6 with 6.1% undecided. The sleeper is the Public Service Commission, where two seats decide control. Democrats won two PSC seats in 2025 on the back of power-bill frustration; holding District 3 (Peter Hubbard) and taking District 5 (Sheila Edwards vs. Josh Tolbert, for the seat Tricia Pridemore vacated early) would give them a majority. The winners inherit Georgia Power's 2028 long-term plan, the first rate case since 2022, and the data-center load question. Also worth tracking for compliance and disclosure work: as of Oct. 16, four statewide candidates' required financial disclosures were not posted on the State Ethics Commission site: Democratic insurance commissioner candidate Keisha Sean Waites, Republican PSC candidate Fitz Johnson, Democratic PSC candidate Shelia Edwards, and Democratic agriculture commissioner candidate Katherine Juhan-Arnold.

04. Data Centers Become Defining Economic-Development Fault Line

Data centers have moved from an economic development story to a campaign issue, cutting both ways. Bottoms has attacked Jackson over a Texas data center investment made through a company he led until recently; the two traded accusations of enabling data center growth at their debate. Kemp has been openly welcoming, telling a Washington audience that "we cannot let China win this race." Expect this to define the 2027 legislative session's utility and siting agenda regardless of who wins. Against that backdrop, the week's biggest project announcement was Blue Bird's $300 million investment in Peach County (Oct. 21), a 1-million-square-foot conversion of the former Wanderlodge motorhome site in Fort Valley, 375 new jobs over three years, producing Type C school buses across diesel, gasoline, propane and electric powertrains, with construction starting Q1 2027. The auto and advanced-manufacturing pipeline remains the state's engine: Hyundai Transys ($560M, 320 jobs, West Point), VDL Groep ($77M, 120 jobs, Hall County), Yura Corporation (Chatham County), and MEC (Thomson) all landed in October.

05. Property Tax Study Committee

The General Assembly was out of session but working through interim study committees. The House Blue-Ribbon Study Committee on Local Government Taxation, Funding and Budgeting, which met Oct. 21 and heard city officials argue that one-size-fits-all property tax limits don't work across Georgia's very different local revenue mixes, with GMA first vice president and Suwanee Mayor Jimmy Burnette leading the presentations. The committee meets again Oct. 28, and its findings will shape the 2027 property tax fight. The Joint Study Committee on Foster Care Costs and the Blue-Ribbon Study Committee on Youth Exposure to Kratom both met Thursday and Friday.

Election Special Report: 2026 Georgia Constitutional Amendments on the Ballot

Georgia voters will consider three proposed amendments to the Georgia Constitution on the November 3, 2026, general election ballot. The measures address agricultural and timber property taxation, the election of probate judges, and emergency communications.

Amendment 1: Increase the Acreage Limit for Conservation-Use Property

• What it would do: Increase the maximum amount of agricultural and timber property that a single owner can place under Georgia’s bona fide conservation-use property classification from 2,000 acres to 4,000 acres.
• Why it matters: Georgia’s conservation-use valuation program, or CUVA, allows qualifying agricultural, timber and certain environmentally sensitive property to be assessed based on its current use rather than its fair market value. The property is generally assessed at 40% of its conservation- use value. The change would particularly affect larger agricultural and timber operations that currently exceed the 2,000-acre limitation. The accompanying legislation would take effect January 1, 2027, only if voters approve the constitutional amendment.

Amendment 2: Require Nonpartisan Elections for Probate Judges

• What it would do: Require all probate judges in Georgia to be elected on a nonpartisan basis.
• Why it matters: Probate courts handle matters including estates, wills, guardianships and conservatorships. Under the proposed amendment, candidates for probate judge would no longer appear on partisan primary ballots: the office would be elected without a party designation. Currently, state Supreme Court justices, Court of Appeals judges, superior court judges, and state court judges are elected on a nonpartisan basis. Recently, the General Assembly enacted legislation providing nonpartisan elections for magistrate judges. Approval of this amendment would extend the nonpartisan election structure to probate judges statewide.

Amendment 3: Create a Georgia Next Generation 9-1-1 Fund

• What it would do: Allow the General Assembly to create and dedicate revenue to a Georgia Next Generation 9-1-1 Fund.
• Why it matters: Georgia’s current 9-1-1 infrastructure dates back decades. Next Generation 9-1-1 technology is designed to modernize emergency communications and improve the information available to 9-1-1 centers, including more precise location information and enhanced communications capabilities. The amendment itself authorizes the creation of the dedicated fund; the General Assembly would determine the revenue source and funding structure through subsequent legislation.
  

Key Voting Dates & Deadlines

• October 23: Last day to submit an absentee ballot application.
  
• October 30: Last day of early voting.
  
• November 3: Election Day.