The outcomes of the Georgia Senate runoffs might take weeks to determine as some local election officials warn they are bracing for legal battles.
“Even if there’s a blowout election, I think we’ll have people saying: ‘Well, obviously it was stolen. We have close elections in this state,’” Georgia voting system manager Gabriel Sterling said. “So no matter what direction you go, that’s going to happen.”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that there could be recounts, legal battles, a “stream of misinformation infecting the social discourse,” and threats of violence that cause the Jan. 5 elections to span far past when voters cast their ballots.
“Given what happened after the presidential election, I wouldn’t at all be surprised to see attempts to challenge the results, especially if Democrats win,” Emory University political scientist Alan Abramowitz told the outlet. “We’re already seeing questions about signature verification, challenges of new voter registration. This could all just be a glimpse of the future.”
Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue are currently vying for reelection in hotly contested runoff elections against Democratic challengers Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock. Republicans currently hold a 50-48 edge in the Senate, meaning the races will determine which political party holds Senate power for the next two years.
The projection on the Georgia runoffs comes as President Trump has continued contesting the presidential election, citing widespread voter fraud that threw the election in President-elect Joe Biden’s favor, which has fired up his base in denouncing voter fraud.
Biden, however, has condemned claims of fraud in the general election, saying earlier this month, “The court sent a clear signal to President Trump that they would be no part of an unprecedented assault on our democracy.”
Georgia ultimately certified Biden the winner after a recount vote.
Contesting election results in the state extends beyond the 2020 election, however, with former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams still contesting her 2018 run.
Abrams lost her bid to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in 2018 by less than 55,000 votes and filed a federal lawsuit asking a judge to put a hold on vote certifications for an extra day back in November of that year.
“The general election for governor is over, but the citizens and voters of Georgia deserve an election system that they can have confidence in,” Lauren Groh-Wargo, the CEO of Fair Fight and Abrams’s former campaign manager, told the media at the time.
The Georgia GOP did not immediately return a request for comment on combatting potentially drawn-out election results.
