8:10 p.m. Nov. 7
President-Elect Joe Biden’s lead over Trump has widened this evening to 9,160 as the ballot count continues in Georgia. Of course, Biden no longer needs to win Georgia after taking Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral votes. Meanwhile, Decaturish reports that the previously reported issue with ballots in Fulton County was a reconciliation issue that only affects 400 or so ballots.
6:20 p.m., Nov. 7
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said on Twitter that “Fulton County discovered an issue involving reporting from their work on Fri. Officials are at State Farm Arena to rescan that work. I have a monitor & investigators onsite. Also sent Dep. SOS as well to oversee the process to make sure to secure the vote and protect all legal votes.” Biden is still leading Trump in the vote count by almost 7,600 votes. Meanwhile, Gov. Brian Kemp echoed President Trump’s afternoon statement that the “fight is far from over” and that an audit of the vote and recount is coming.
1:30 p.m., Nov. 7
Democrat Joe Biden will be the 46th President of the United States, while Kamala Harris will be the first woman elected Vice President. Georgia election officials still expect the Trump administration to ask for a recount, as Biden continues to hold a small lead in the state at 7,264 votes. Attention will also turn to the Jan. 5 runoff for two crucial U.S. Senate seats in Georgia that could put the chamber in Democratic control. Democrat Raphael Warnock will face Republican Kelly Loeffler, while Republican David Perdue will square off against Democrat Jon Ossoff.
Meanwhile, celebrations have erupted around Midtown and Atlanta after Biden was declared the winner.
#Atlanta #BidenHarris2020 celebrations ? #JoeBidenPresidentElect pic.twitter.com/HaS4z0RM3k
— Nelson Quiñones (@nelsonqatlanta) November 7, 2020
11:30 a.m., Nov. 7
CNN, NBC, and other networks have declared Biden the winner of the election.
8:30 a.m., Nov. 7
Biden’s lead over Trump in Georgia has grown to 7,200 votes after provisional ballots from Fulton County were added overnight.
11:45 p.m., Nov. 6
Georgia is still counting military, overseas, and provisional ballots so we’re not expecting a call on the presidential election tonight. Votes are still being tabulated in battleground states of Nevada, Arizona, and Pennsylvania. In Georgia, Biden’s lead over Trump sits at 4,395. Thanks again for reading our coverage today. We’ll be back in the morning with updates.
5:05 p.m., Nov. 6
Joe Biden’s lead in Georgia has jumped to 4,263 against Trump after Gwinnett County released new ballot totals.
3:30 p.m., Nov. 6
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger just gave an update on the vote count. He characterized Georgia as “too close to call” in the presidential election. He said election officials are “working with integrity to ensure that every legal ballot is counted” and the process is open and transparent to monitors. “We understand that emotions are running high, but we won’t let that deter us,” Raffensperger said, reiterating that a recount is likely. State Voting System Implementation Manager Gabe Sterling said Biden’s lead at just after 3 p.m. was 1,585. He said 18,008 military and overseas ballots had already been accepted, and there were still 8,410 that could be received before the 5 p.m. deadline “That doesn’t mean there’s a bucket ready to be counted,” Sterling said. “That means the number will be more than zero and less than 8,410.”
2:40 p.m., Nov. 6
We’re in a bit of a holding pattern as the focus turns to Pennsylvania where thousands of ballots remain to be counted. Biden has held his razor thin lead against Trump in Georgia with 1,553 votes.
1:20 p.m., Nov. 6
Over on Twitter, President Trump is asking what happened to the “missing” military ballots. As a point of fact, there are no reports of missing military ballots in Georgia. The deadline for military ballots to arrive by mail is 5 p.m. today.
12:40 p.m., Nov. 6
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said in a morning press briefing that he expects a recount in the presidential race. Under state law, a losing candidate can demand a recount if the vote in within half of a percent of the total vote. Biden’s lead over Trump continues to fluctuate as remaining ballots are counted. It sits at 1,565 at this posting.
12:20 p.m., Nov. 6
Biden has extended his lead over Trump by 1,584 votes in Georgia.
10:50 a.m., Nov. 6
Just a little over 4,000 absentee ballots remain to be counted in four counties, according to the Georgia Secretary of State’s office. There is still an untold number of provisional ballots to count, plus military/overseas ballots. SOS’s office continues to report there has been no evidence of voter fraud in Georgia.
9:55 a.m., Nov. 6
While all eyes are trained on the presidential nail-biter, it appears that David Perdue and Jon Ossoff will join Raphael Warnock and Kelly Loeffler in a Jan. 5 runoff to represent Georgia in the U.S. Senate. Perdue’s lead has fallen under 50 percent and prognosticators do not believe he will be able to recover to win outright.
8:55 a.m., Nov. 6
Along with his lead in Georgia, Biden has now overtaken Trump in Pennsylvania by 5,587 votes, according to CNN. Biden’s advantage in Georgia holds at 1,097 but more votes are expected soon. There are still military and overseas ballots that must be counted that total 8,889.
8:15 a.m, Nov. 6
If you’re just waking up, Biden overtook Trump’s lead in Georgia around 4 a.m. this morning and now sits at a 1,097 vote advantage. He’s also closing in on Pennsylvania. If Biden’s lead holds in Georgia, it will be a historic upset and the first time the state has voted for a Democratic president in 28 years.
12:30 a.m., Nov. 6
It’s going to be later in the morning before we get final counts from Gwinnett County (they’ve gone home for the night) and likely Clayton County (where counting continues but no timeline for a ballot update). Prognosticators say both counties are leaning heavily Biden, which could put him in the lead since Trump is only ahead by 1,805. We’ll have an update first thing in the morning. Once again, thanks for reading our coverage today.
9:40 p.m., Nov. 5
Trump’s lead against Biden has eroded to just 1,902 votes, according to CNN. With thousands more still to come from Democratic strongholds, it is likely that Biden will flip Georgia. If that’s the case, this will be the first time Georgia has gone for a Democratic president since Bill Clinton in 1992.
9:12 p.m., Nov. 5
Trump’s lead against Biden shrinks to 2,497 in Georgia.
8:05 p.m., Nov. 5
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger just told CNN there are still 18,936 votes still to be counted in the state, which doesn’t include provisional and overseas ballots. Trump’s lead over Biden has shrunk again to 3,486.
7:15 p.m., Nov. 5
President Trump claimed in an evening press conference that the election is rigged, corrupt, and fraudulent. He singled out Georgia’s “Democratic election apparatus” – which will be news to Gov. Kemp’s administration – as the reason for the tightening race in the state. He said more lawsuits would be filed and the election would be decided by judges and lawyers. Trump’s lead in Georgia has dropped to just 3,635 votes against Biden.
5:45 p.m., Nov. 5
Trump’s lead in Georgia has dropped to less than 10,000 as ballots continue to be counted. Biden supporters are hopeful that the remaining mail-in ballots from Chatham, Clayton and Gwinnett will put him over the top. Stay tuned.
3:15 p.m., Nov. 5
Georgia Voting System Implementation Manager Gabe Sterling said in a 3 p.m. press briefing that there are 47,277 votes still to be counted in Georgia. Counties where counting continues include Chatham, Clayton, Cobb, Floyd, Forsyth, Gwinnett, Laurens, Taylor and Fulton. Although Fulton completed its absentee-by-mail tabulation, there are still 7,305 ballots that need verification, provisional ballots, and military ballots.
1:15 p.m., Nov. 5
The absentee ballot count is complete in Fulton County, according to elections director Richard Barron. He said a little more 145,000 ballots were processed, 3,600 provisional ballots will be processed this afternoon, and the county is awaiting military overseas ballots. There are also 200 “cured” ballots – those that need errors corrected by voters – that need to be resolved.
12:15 p.m., Nov. 5
A judge has dismissed a lawsuit from the Trump campaign and the Georgia Republican Party alleging that Chatham County elections officials improperly counted absentee ballots received after the 7 p.m. deadline on Election Day.
11 a.m., Nov. 5
Fulton County continued to count absentee ballots overnight as the fate of the 2020 Presidential Election hangs in the balance.
10:30 a.m. Nov. 5
Georgia Voting System Implementation Manager Gabe Sterling said in a 10:30 a.m. press briefing that there is no evidence of voter suppression happening in Georgia as more than 60,000 absentee ballots remain to be counted statewide. Sterling also said there are absentee ballots from overseas military and provisional ballots that must be counted. With a close margin in the presidential election, those military and provisional ballots may come into play.
8:30 a.m., Nov. 5
A Fulton vote update is expected at 11 a.m. this morning, while Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger will hold a press conference at 10:30 a.m. CNN is reporting that there are still 50,000 ballots to be counted statewide.
8:00 a.m., Nov. 5
President Donald Trump is leading in Georgia, but Joe Biden has considerably tightened the gap, with the candidates running nearly neck and neck. Fulton only had a few thousand ballots left to tabulate, while DeKalb County has finished its count having processed all 369,948 votes cast in the county for the presidential election.
Original post
The large number of absentee ballots in both Fulton and DeKalb counties due to the coronavirus pandemic are generally believed to favor Biden, according to prognosticators.
The Trump Administration has filed suit in Chatham County to stop the vote count alleging ballot mishandling, while the state’s Republican Chairman David Shafer said in a statement Wednesday night that they planned to sue in a dozen counties. Raffensperger said during a Wednesday morning press conference that “every legal vote in Georgia will count”
Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nevada, and North Carolina were the other key states still counting ballots.
In Georgia, Doug Collins conceded the U.S. Senate sending Republican Kelly Loeffler and Democrat Raphael Warnock to a runoff in January. In the other closely watched Senate race, Republican David Perdue has a lead over Democrat Jon Ossoff, but Libertarian candidate Shane Hazel may split the vote and force a runoff as the vote count continues.
This story will be updated.
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