The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Democrats gain ground in state
Official: Extremely tight presidential race could be ‘ as close as 1,000 votes.’
As the race for the White House hung in the balance, Joe Biden pulled nearly even with President Donald Trump in Georgia as election workers tallied some of the last remaining absentee ballots and anxious voters pored over every update of the count.
Just as Trump’s margins steadily eroded throughout Thursday, so did U. S. Sen. David Perdue’s lead over Democrat Jon Ossoff. Thet wo now appear headed for a January run offff after Perdue’s vote total plunged beneath the 50% mark.
A Perdue- Ossoff run off would be the second of Georgia’s two nationally watched Senate races to goin to overtime: U. S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler and Democrat Raphael Warnock emerged froma 21- candidate special election and will
also square off Jan. 5. Together, the two races could determine which party controls the U.S. Senate.
As analysts pored over every newly tallied packet of absentee ballots, the presidential campaigns split their attention among Georgia, Nevada and Pennsylvania — each rated as too close to call.
Georgia hasn’t voted Democratic in aWhiteHouse race since 1992, and a Biden victory here would be a huge blowto Trump’s reelection bid. Even without Georgia’ s 16 electoral votes, though, the Democrat seemed to have an advantage in the other crucial battleground states.
Trump’s once- formidable lead overBiden shrank throughout the day as election staffers tallied tens of thousands of mail- in ballots. The same trend helped Ossoff climb to his runoff with Perdue.
As Perdue was on the verge of falling belowthe 50% threshold, his campaign sent a statement that hewas preparing for another round of voting, as required by Georgia law when no candidate captures a majority of the vote.
“If overtime is required when all of the votes havebeen counted, we’ re ready, and we will win ,” Per due campaign manager Ben Fry said.
Ossoff campaign manager Ellen Foster saidGeorgians “are going to send Jon to the Senate to defend their health care and put the interests ofworking families and small businesses ahead of corporate lobbyists.”
As election workers whittled away a trove of absentee ballots, which were mostly from Democraticleaning counties, state officials provided frequent updates.
While some of the remaining absentee ballots were counted Thursday, provisional ballots, military overseas votes and others won’t be tallied for days.
“I think it’s really close,” Deputy Secretary of State Jordan Fuchs said, “and it could be as close as 1,000 votes.”
Gabriel Sterling, the state voting system implementation manager, warned of an “extremely close margin” in the top races as he called for patience.
“Fast is great. We appreciate fast,” he added. “We more appreciate accuracy.”
Republicans shifted their efforts to the courtroom. A Chatham County judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Georgia GOP and the Trump campaign that suggested 53 absentee ballotswere mishandled after county officials testified they were received before a Tuesday deadline.
Democrats were on pins and needles. “People are excited and tired and optimistic,” said Lauren Groh Wargo, chief executive of the Fair Fight voting rights group.
“Georgia is supercompetitive, and we really feel like Biden will be ahead,” she said. “And we expect the Trump campaign and desperate Republicans will do all sorts of things to try to stop it.”
As election workerswhittled away a trove of absentee ballots, which were mostly from Democraticleaning counties, state officials provided frequent updates.