The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
State in final push for ballot counting
First audit of statewide results could start by Tuesday; recount likely.
Election workers plan to finish counting almost all votes in Georgia by the end of the day today as President- elect Joe Biden held a lead of more than 10,000 votes.
There didn’t appear to be many votes left across the state.
Gwinnett County planned to review 965 provisional ballots today, with those found to be valid added to the state’s total. On Sunday afternoon, the county released the results of absentee ballots. Since Friday’s vote count, Biden gained another 280 votes in the county, President Donald Trump gained 123 and Libertarian Jo Jorgensen added six votes.
Additional votes could trickle in from other counties.
About 1,000 new absentee ballots from military and overseas voters were received at county election offices Friday, the deadline for military and international ballots, according to state election data. Domestic absentee ballots were due by 7 p.m. on Election Day.
It’s unclear how many of those overseas ballots have been counted already.
An unknown number of provisional ballots will also be counted if they were verified by county election officials before a Friday deadline. Provisional ballots were issued when voter registration information couldn’t be confirmed, photo ID was missing, voters cast ballots at the wrong precinct, people listed as noncitizens attempted to vote, or polling places were held open late.
A schedule set by the secretary of state’s office called for counties to finalize vote counts by the end of the day today.
Then Georgia’s first audit of a statewide election could begin Tuesday. The audit will review the printed text of voters’ choices in one race to check the accuracy of results.
A recount is also likely after Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger certifies statewide results by a Nov. 20 deadline. State law gives losing candidates the right to a recount upon request if they lost by less than half of a percent of all votes cast.
Georgia is one of three states where The Associated Press hasn’t yet called the winner of the presidential election. The other two are Alaska and North Carolina.