ATLANTA, GA — Early voting begins Oct. 15 in the nation’s most watched governor’s race. Democrat Stacey Abrams, seeking to become the nation’s first African-American female governor, and Secretary of State Brian Kemp are seeking to become Georgia’s next governor on Nov. 6, and voters can cast their ballot when early voting begins Oct. 15. Abrams, a former state House minority leader, and Kemp are seeking to replace Gov. Nathan Deal, who cannot run for a third term.

Abrams made history back on May 22, when she became the first African-American woman to win a major party’s nomination for governor by defeating former state Rep. Stacey Evans. Two months later, Kemp won the GOP nomination after a bitter runoff with Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle. In a state where Democrats have not won the governorship since 2002, Abrams is campaigning hard in an effort to turn out people who have not traditionally voted at the polls.

Kemp, meanwhile, is touting his conservative credentials, hoping that’s enough to turn back the tide of an electorate that, particularly in metro Atlanta, has grown more diverse and less staunchly conservative in recent years.

More Patch Election Coverage

Click Here: Cardiff Blues Store

Early voting will continue until Nov. 2, the Friday before Election Day. Fulton County will open several early voting locations in an effort to curtail long lines expected on Nov. 6.

DeKalb and Cobb counties have not yet announced their early voting locations.

An internal poll conducted by the Abrams campaign shows her leading Kemp by a margin of 48 percent to Kemp’s 42 percent. The firm of Garin-Hart-Yang conducted the poll between Sept. 17-20, interviewing a sample of 603 likely voters with a margin of error of +4.1%. The party self-identification in the survey was 40% Democrat and 40% Republican.

The last publicly reported poll in the race was commissioned by the AJC in late August, and showed the race in a dead heat.

From now until Election Day, your local Patch will be offering the most comprehensive and thorough election coverage of the governor’s race and all of the other local races, issues and referendums that matter to you.

Georgia voters can check their registration status as well as find out where they can vote early through the Georgia Secretary of State’s My Voter Page.

(For more news like this, find your local Patch here. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app; download the free Patch Android app here.)

Photos courtesy Stacey Abrams, Brian Kemp campaigns