The turnout of Black voters in Georgia’s runoff Senate races rose a percentage point from what it was in November, according to ABC News’ preliminary exit poll -- potentially a positive signal for Democratic candidates Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock.

The African American turnout is "a very encouraging sign for Democrats. It shows that they’re getting their base out,” ABC News Political Director Rick Klein said on ABC News Live.

Preliminary exit poll reporting shows that Black voters account for 29% of the electorate in Tuesday's race, up from 28% in November.

The exit poll data indicates that 93% of Black voters turned out for both Ossoff and Warnock.

"[African Americans are] as reliable of a Democratic bloc as there is and so far the Democrats look like they did their job in getting them to the polls," Klein said.

More than 3 million voters in the Georgia runoff elections cast their ballots early -- 1,018,381 by mail and 2,074,994 early in-person -- according to Georgia Votes, already a record-setting figure for runoff elections.

The total early vote so far also includes 123,079 who did not participate in November's general election -- which is 35,000 more votes than the margin that separated Sen. David Perdue and Jon Ossoff the first time around, when the incumbent Republican edged out his challenger by just over 88,000 votes. Sen. Kelly Loeffler and Raphael Warnock were competing in a jungle primary in which the large field diluted their vote shares.

The secretary of state's office won't have Tuesday's in-person turnout numbers until at least 1 p.m. on Wednesday when counties are required to report how many ballots they received Tuesday in order to calculate the number of outstanding ballots. It may take days for the final results to become available depending on how close the races are.

Republicans are relying on high Election Day turnout, believing close to a million votes on Tuesday is likely their path to victory. At a rally in Dalton on Monday night, President Donald Trump signaled how many votes Republicans are eyeing: "I guess we have to get over a million votes tomorrow, right, Kelly? Over a million. All right. That's a lot of votes, Kelly, but we'll do it."

-ABC News' Quinn Scanlan, Kendall Karson and Meg Cunningham

The results of the runoff elections will determine which party controls the U.S. Senate -- and voters are nearly split on their preference, preliminary exit poll results show.

Forty-nine percent prefer Republican Party control, while 48% prefer control by the Democrats, based on the preliminary results.

The GOP needs either seat to retain control of the Senate, while the Democrats need both to win control.

Voters also were nearly split in their vote for president in the general election, based on the preliminary results -- suggesting that Democrats were holding their own in runoff turnout.

Voters in the race between Democrat Raphael Warnock and Republican Kelly Loeffler report having voted a dead-even 47%-47% Donald Trump-Joe Biden, preliminary results show. In the contest between Democrat Jon Ossoff and Republican David Perdue, it’s about the same -- 48%-47% Trump-Biden, based on preliminary results.

-ABC News' Gary Langer, Christine Filer and Steven Sparks

Polls across the state are closing as a flurry of advocates urge those who haven't voted and are still standing in line to stay past 7 p.m. and make sure their ballots are cast.

Georgia voters also had until 7 p.m. to return absentee ballots in drop boxes across the state.

A few polling precincts have gotten judicial extensions to be open past 7 p.m.: one in Gwinnett County, two in Columbia County, one in Tift County and two in Chatham County. There was also an accident near a polling place in Ware County that may lead to a judicial order extending poll closing time, said Gabriel Sterling, the state voting system implementation manager.

Sterling, in the most recent election update, described the day overall as "smooth voting, steady voting."

He said the state was getting reports of longer lines forming in Houston, Cherokee, Paulding and Forsyth counties with wait times approaching an hour, but not going over.

-ABC News' Quinn Scanlan

Warnock called his projected victory a "historic moment," saying he "can't wait" to be in the upper chamber of Congress "to represent the concerns of ordinary people."

"I'm deeply honored that the people of Georgia decided to place their faith in me and have decided to send me to represent their interests in Washington, D.C.," Warnock told ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos in an interview Wednesday on "Good Morning America."

"Certainly, this is a historic moment and I'm just deeply grateful to be a vessel in a moment in which we're facing such large problems in our country," he added, "and I can't wait to get to the U.S. Senate to represent the concerns of ordinary people."

Warnock, a senior pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, the former pulpit of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., is the first Black senator Georgia has elected and only the 11th Black senator elected in U.S. history.

"Georgia is in such an incredible place when you think about the arc of our history, we are sending an African-American pastor of Ebenezer Baptist church where Martin Luther King Jr. served," he said. "This is the reversal of the old southern strategy that sought to divide people. In this moment we've got to bring people together in order to do the hard work and I look forward to doing that."

When asked about his top priority for this year in the Senate, Warnock said -- as he has throughout his campaign -- that the country needs to get the coronavirus pandemic under control.

"Like so many Americans, as we witnessed the incredible death toll over 350,000 Americans lost lives, lost livelihoods, we need a national strategy that takes this virus seriously, that gets the vaccine distributed safely and efficiently," he said. "We've got to re-open our economy, get our kids safely back to school and we got to make sure that people know that they will have their health care, particularly in the middle of a pandemic."

-ABC News' Quinn Scanlan