WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Wednesday, Nov. 23, the Georgia Supreme Court unanimously denied a Republican request to block early voting on Saturday, Nov. 26, upholding lower court decisions allowing for early voting on that day.This story began when neither Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) nor his Republican challenger Herschel Walker garnered over 50% of the vote total as required by state law, thus sending the two candidates to a runoff election on Dec. 6, 2022.Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) stated that “some counties may likely have Saturday voting following Thanksgiving” and Gabriel Sterling, the secretary of state’s chief operating officer, reiterated on CNN that “there’s a very good possibility we will probably have voting on Saturday Nov. 26 in many of the counties if they so choose.” Following these public statements, on Nov. 12 the Georgia secretary of state’s office released guidance reversing its position, citing a 2016 law that the secretary said prevents early voting on Saturday, Nov. 26, which follows holidays on Thursday (Thanksgiving) and Friday (a “State Holiday” which formerly celebrated Confederate General Robert E. Lee).In response, the Democratic Party of Georgia, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) and Warnock for Georgia (Sen. Raphael Warnock’s (D-Ga.) campaign for U.S. Senate) filed a lawsuit against the state of Georgia challenging the guidance and arguing that the law in question does not contain the word “runoff,” so early voting on Saturday, Nov. 26 should be permitted.After expedited briefing and a hearing before a Georgia trial court, the trial court agreed with the Democratic plaintiffs that Georgia law “does not specifically prohibit counties from conducting advanced voting on Saturday, November 26, 2022, for a runoff election.” The state of Georgia and the Republican intervenors appealed the decision and asked an appellate court to pause the lower court’s ruling, which the appellate court declined to do."