Photo story by Rita Harper Tuesday’s 2026 election was a historic day for Georgians, who elected the first Black woman to governor in the U.S…

the first openly non-binary or trans person to a state House in the Deep South and the first Japanese American to the Georgia state House. Voters gave Democrats control of the Georgia state House for the first time since 2004, the Governor's Mansion for the first time since 2003 and came within 2,000 votes of a trifecta, narrowly missing control of the state Senate. Voters did not go to the polls alone. From cookouts and poll monitoring to chaplains and DJs, election protection efforts came in many varieties on Election Day in Metro Atlanta.