ATLANTA (AP)- Less than a quarter of the voters who have cast
early ballots for the Dec. 2 runoff are black. That is a contrast from the
surge of black voters in the run-up to the general election.

Georgia Secretary of State figures show roughly 24 percent of
the 33,555 early voters who have cast ballots in the race between
U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss and Democrat Jim Martin are black. Early
voting began this week.

Black voters made up more than 34 percent of the more than 2
million early voters before the Nov. 4 general election. That's a
disproportionate hunk of Georgia voters, who comprise 29 percent of
the state's 5.6 million registered voters.

More than 10,000 of the early votes came from the metro Atlanta
counties of DeKalb, Gwinnett, Cobb and Fulton. DeKalb County led
with 3,600 votes.

Martin and Chambliss are locked in a runoff after neither won
more than 50 percent of the vote on Nov. 4. The contest also will
decide open seats on the Public Service Commission and the state
Court of Appeals.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)