Super Tuesday Results GA 2016: Trump Project Winner in Republican Primary

Photos by Gage Skidmore via Flickr / Creative Commons

Donald Trump appeared to have locked up his second big win in the Deep South on Tuesday, with multiple outlets projecting he has won the Republican presidential primary in Georgia.

CNN and NBC were among the outlets declaring Trump victorious in the Peach State, with U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio neck-and-neck for second place.

Those projections, which came less than a half-hour after polls closed at 7 p.m., were based on exit polls and early results.

We’ll update this post as results come in.

Georgia is part of the historic SEC primary. Georgia, along with Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia, are all holding their primaries on the same day in an effort led by Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp to give the South a greater say in choosing both parties’ White House candidates.

In the South’s bellweather contest on Saturday in South Carolina, Trump won handily, taking 32.5 percent of the vote, compared to 22.5 percent for Rubio and 22.3 percent for Cruz.

A total of 76 delegates are available in Georgia’s Republican primary.

Voter turnout was reported to be steady throughout the day, with no major problems reported at most precincts.

Kemp’s office says a record number of 417,491 ballots were cast in early voting totals through Friday, Feb. 26. The previous record was 271,418, set back in 2008.

Stay with Patch throughout the evening for real-time election results.