Presumptive President-elect Joe Biden on Sunday extended his lead over President Trump in Georgia to 10,196 votes in a race that is still too close to call.
Fulton County released updated results around 2 a.m., widening Biden’s margin. Biden’s lead stood at 7,200 Saturday morning.
As Fulton’s numbers trickled in, Gwinnett County announced it had hundreds of more ballots to count. The county said 535 absentee ballots that required a signature cure and three military ballots were not tabulated because Dominion Voting Systems technicians were unable to make the correct adjustments needed to complete a results upload.
Dominion Voting Systems election management system and ballot tabulators have come under scrutiny across multiple states in recent days including Michigan, Nevada and Arizona. The tabulators are programmed to scan hand-marked paper ballots. Dominion has been used in several states where fraud has been alleged in the 2020 election by the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee.
Gwinnett said another 965 provisional ballots will have to be reviewed by the county Board of Voter Registrations and Elections to determine their eligibility to be tabulated. That review is expected to take place Monday morning.
Trump initially led in Georgia, but his gains were erased when absentee ballots from Democratic-leaning areas were added. Biden surpassed Trump and on Saturday morning.
As the Trump-Biden vote plays out, the nation’s eyes are focusing on the Peach State’s post-election cliff-hanger that will determine the majority in the U.S. Senate.
Republicans and Democrats from across the country are racing to the state to get in place for a nine-week, high-stakes, year-end sprint that could cost another $100 million as the parties duke it out for Senate control.
Georgia, a once-reliably red state with rapidly changing demographics, will be the site of two Jan. 5 runoffs.
The first race features Democrat Jon Ossoff and Georgia Sen. David Perdue. Both advanced to a second round after three days of vote counting.
There will also be a special election to decide which candidate will fill the unexpired term of former Sen. Johnny Isakson, who retired at the end of 2019 due to Parkinson’s disease and other medical challenges.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, announced Kelly Loeffler as Isakson’s replacement. Raphael Warnock, a senior pastor at Martin Luther King Jr.’s church, Ebenezer Baptist – is her opponent. As of Friday afternoon, Warnock received 32.9% of the vote to Loeffler’s 26%. Because neither hit 50% of the vote, both will go head-to-head on Jan. 5.
Georgia law requires an outright majority to win a statewide office.
