Kemp takes Floyd County
Stacey Abrams awaits final metro votes in governor’s race
With Floyd County’s election totals in at 9:47 p.m. Brian Kemp was the clear favorite locally in the race for Georgia’s governor but statewide results were inconclusive as the night wore on.
The Republican candidate took 71 percent of the vote in Floyd County with 21,490 votes over the Democratic Party’s candidate Stacey Abrams’ 8,413 votes. Turnout was 57. 79 percent.
As of midnight, Kemp had a 51 percent lead statewide with 1,835,741 votes versus Abrams’ 48.06 percent with 1,729,673 votes. There were still approximately 12 percent of precincts — primarily in metro-Atlanta — with ballots uncounted.
Voters cast ballots Tuesday amid an ongoing dispute about one of the candidates’ management of Georgia’s elections system, leaving open the possibility that supporters on the losing side may not accept the outcome.
Kemp and Abrams are meeting in one of the signature contests of the 2018 midterm elections, with potential outcomes ranging from the election of America’s first black female governor to another four weeks of bitter, race-laden campaigning.
Adding to the Election Day drama, widespread reports of technical malfunctions and long lines at polling stations came in from across the state, with some voters reporting waits of up to three hours to cast ballots.
Early returns showed Kemp running up large margins across rural and small-town Georgia, but parts of metro Atlanta, where Abrams’ strength is concentrated, had yet to report.
Some of those Atlanta-area counties had extended voting hours for some precincts to accommodate the crowds and compensate for problems.
A state judge ordered three precincts in suburban Gwinnett County — a populous swing county — to extend their polling hours, one of them as late as 9:25 p.m. An order issued in Fulton County Superior Court says three polling places must stay open late — two until 10 p.m.
The elections chief wasn’t immune to the difficulties: When Kemp went to cast his ballot, he had an issue with his voter card, but it was fixed quickly. He walked by reporters and said: “Take Two.”
Abrams, a 44-year-old Atlanta attorney, former lawmaker and moonlighting romance novelist would be the first black woman in American history elected governor in any state and the first woman or nonwhite governor in Georgia history. She’s already made history as the first black woman to be a major party gubernatorial nominee.
Kemp, a 54-year-old businessman and veteran secretary of state is vying to maintain the GOP’s hold on a state that is nearing presidential battleground status courtesy of its growth and diversity. Republicans have won every Georgia governor’s race since 2002.
Ballot access and election integrity flared up in the final weekend after a private citizen alerted the Georgia Democratic Party and a private attorney of vulnerability in the online voter database Kemp that oversees in his current job as secretary of state. Those private communications ended up with Kemp announcing, without providing any evidence, that he was launching an investigation into Georgia Democrats for “possible cybercrimes.”
Both nominees frame the election as no less than a battle for Georgia’s soul, a contest so intense that early voting has approached the overall number of ballots cast in the governor’s race four years ago.
Abrams has continued as she has throughout her campaign noting the potential historical significance but arguing the contest should be about more.
“I don’t want anyone to vote for me because I’m black,” she told supporters in Savannah on Monday. “And no one on the ballot needs a vote because we’re women. And I don’t even want you to vote for us just because we’re Democrats. You need to vote for us because we’re better.”