The Senate run-off contest between Republican incumbent Saxby Chambliss and Democratic former state Rep. Jim Martin is in the final stretch. The election is one week from today, but voters have many distractions between now and then, not the least of which is the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday and the start of the Christmas shopping season on Friday.
The central question in the race has always been who is going to vote, and Thanksgiving probably complicates the answer.
Early voting started last week and it may provide some clues as to who will ultimately cast ballots in the run-off. As of last night, 236,992 voters had cast their ballots early. Of that number, 53,374 or 22.5 percent were African Americans. In the early voting in the general election, African Americans, who make up 29 percent of all registered voters, accounted for 35 percent of the early ballots. Once Election Day votes were counted, African Americans made up about 30 percent of the overall vote.
Thus, the African-American early vote is running almost 13 points behind the general election early balloting
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