Georgia voters talking about rights, affordability

Three hours into election day as voters select who they think the best candidates are in several key races, including Georgia's next governor. Good day. Atlanta has live team coverage of the biggest races and a look at voter turnout. We began with Mark Tegner, who's live in Fulton County, with more on the gubernatorial race between Republican Rick Jackson and Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms. Mark, good morning to you. Yeah, good morning, Buck. A little bit of light rain actually falling, kind of a mist to be honest with you, but it shouldn't be impacting any of the voters who come out to cast a ballot. They've been at it for a couple of hours here at this particular polling precinct as well as throughout the state. There was a small line at 7 o'clock in the morning when they opened up the doors, but we've been able to see folks get in and out and make their voices heard fairly quickly and fairly efficiently. No complaints from Many of the voters, as for how long it is taking them to get their vote across. Now, this particular race that we are talking about, the governor's race, of course, pits Rick Jackson, a Republican businessman, versus the former Atlanta mayor and Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms. Everyone expects this race to be close. And as you can imagine, when people are coming out to cast their ballots. They've got some pretty strong opinions and they are pretty hopeful that their particular candidate will win. We talked with a few of them about how successful they think this state will work, whether their candidate ends up winning or losing. If my candidate wins, then yeah, I think they would do a good job. Probably would be concerned if the other person wins. I think it's a pretty polarized climate everywhere right now. I'm not... I'm not super hopeful about everybody coming together, unfortunately, but I'd love to see that happen. If the right person is voted in, I think it's possible that we can eventually come together and get our entire country in a place where we can feel safe and everyone's heard and everyone's taken care of. This morning, Rick Jackson cast his ballot up in Forsyth County. Keisha Lance Bottoms is getting ready to hold a canvassing event to encourage canvassers to go out and encourage the Get Out the Vote effort. That should start in a few minutes, and then later, she is going to meet with voters at a polling precinct in Smyrna. We're going to have sound with both of those candidates for you coming up at noon, so make sure you tune in for that. Reporting live from Midtown, I'm Mark Teichner for Good Day Atlanta. Buck, back to you. Looking forward to hearing that, Mark. Thank you. Another big race on the ballot. Incumbent Senator John Ossoff vies to keep his seat against Republican challenger Congressman Mike Collins. Good day's Caitlin Pratt is live at Unity Atlanta Church, one of eight relocated precincts across Gwinnett County. She joins us now with more on that. Caitlin, good morning. Hi, Buck. Good morning to you. I'm glad you brought up the relocation. I did catch up with one fella, one voter here, who had gone initially to the polling place he was used to going to, casting his ballot, but it was no longer. It moved here. So yeah, before you head out today to cast your ballot, go ahead and double check where you are assigned what polling place. That being said, let's get to it. The U.S. Senate race, right? Campaigning for months and months now, and today, here we are, election day. 48 hours, really a whirlwind for both of these candidates, crisscrossing the state of Georgia, making their final push. We're talking about Senator John Ossoff, Congressman Mike Collins. Now the candidates have clashed. They had a debate last month. They clashed over tariffs. They've clashed over health care, immigration too. Collins has called for stricter immigration enforcement, while Ossoff says secure borders must go hand in hand with respect for civil rights. Now Ossoff has really made his criticism of President Donald Trump a central part of his reelection campaign, while Collins, who secured the president's endorsement earlier this year, insists, Ossoff is is the extremist in the contest. we caught up with some voters casting their ballots here in Peachtree Corners this morning, on their mind, affordability. Everybody needs to do their civic duty and their voice should be heard. No matter what, every vote counts, so it doesn't matter if you're a Democrat or a Republican. Whoever you stand for, I feel like you should come out and vote. I have three small children, and they mean the world to me. And coming out here and voting for their rights, for my life's rights, for my rights, I think is extremely important. I want to see the world turn into a more beautiful place. Midterms are the way for people to kind of... Regret the choices they made for the presidential election, maybe. And this U.S. Senate race in particular initially considered one of the Republicans' top opportunities to flip a Democratic Senate seat. But in recent months, the national Republican groups have shifted their monetary focus, their monetary support to other campaigns away from Georgia. Meantime, we've learned Ossoff has raised more than $109 million, apparently leading all U.S. Senate candidates nationwide in fundraising. That is the latest here in Gwinnett County this Caitlin Pryde for Good Day Atlanta. Buck, back to you. All right, Caitlin, thank you for that.