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.
The post LIVE UPDATES: Biden takes lead in Georgia as he closes in on 270 electoral votes appeared first on Atlanta INtown Paper.