Forsyth County primary draws more than 45,000 voters, turnout at 26.5%

More than 45,000 Forsyth County voters cast ballots in the May 19 primary, and the strongest signal came before Election Day. County figures put turnout at 26.5% of the county’s 170,624 registered voters, with 22,644 residents voting during advance voting.

That was a solid primary showing, but not an outlier. Forsyth’s May 21, 2024 general primary drew 22,537 voters, or 12.54% of 179,776 registered voters, while the May 24, 2022 general primary brought in 48,000 voters, a 30.01% turnout among 159,964 registered voters. This year’s result sits between those two benchmarks, suggesting a county electorate that can still surge when the contest feels worth its attention, even if most registered voters stay home in a lower-salience race.

The county set the election up as the General Primary & Nonpartisan General Election, with Republican, Democratic and Nonpartisan ballot types in Georgia’s open-primary system. Advance voting ran every weekday from Monday, April 27 through Friday, May 15, excluding Sunday, May 10, and those sites were open to all registered Forsyth County voters. County voter materials also note that registration changes can take 24 to 48 hours to show up in the Georgia Secretary of State’s My Voter Page lookup system.

The Forsyth County Board of Voter Registrations & Elections planned to certify the results Tuesday, May 26, at 9 a.m. in the Voter Registrations & Elections Office at 1201 Sawnee Drive in Cumming. The department says its mission is to help eligible residents register and vote, encourage participation and maintain public confidence in the process, while county information says the Administration Building moved to the Freedom Park campus at 2435 Freedom Parkway, effective March 30, 2026. The next major local benchmark already on the county calendar is June 16, the runoff date if one is needed, followed by the Nov. 3 general election, which will show whether May’s turnout was routine civic energy or the start of a larger campaign-season push.