Abrams holding on to slim hopes for recount

ATLANTA» Volunteers spread out Friday trying to find any ballots that could help Democrat Stacey Abrams close the gap against Republican Brian Kemp in their unsettled, too-close-to-call race for Georgia governor.

Unofficial returns showed Kemp with an advantage, and he’s already resigned as secretary of state to start a transition with the blessing of the outgoing GOP governor, Nathan Deal. President Donald Trump weighed in with a tweet that said Kemp “ran a great race in Georgia — he won. It is time to move on!”

Yet Abrams, who hopes to become the nation’s first black woman governor, sent out volunteers and campaign staff members in search of votes that she hoped could tilt the margin toward her.

In a frantic effort to make sure every possible vote was counted, dozens of volunteers converged on a warehouse turned phone bank near downtown. The goal: Reach voters who used a provisional ballot to make sure they took steps to ensure their vote — for Abrams or Kemp — was counted by Friday night, the deadline.

Helen Brosnan of the National Domestic Workers Alliance shouted, “How many calls do you think we can make? Can we make hundreds of calls? Let’s do this!”

A majority-black county with more than 750,000 residents in metro Atlanta, DeKalb, said it would remain open past normal hours Friday to accommodate provisional voters who needed to provide identification so their votes could be counted.

But two groups supporting Abrams’ call to count all votes, ProGeorgia and Care in Action, said at least 12 other counties had certified election results before Friday, a move that could leave provisional ballots uncounted. The secretary of state’s office did not respond to an email seeking comment.

Abrams’ lawyers were exploring options to ensure that all votes were counted. Her campaign leaders said they believed she needed to pick up about 25,000 votes to force a runoff. At least 2,000 people across the nation were involved in that effort, said state Sen. Nikema Williams, the Georgia director for Care In Action.

“We’re in the cradle of the civil rights movement, the home of Congressman John Lewis, who literally bled on the bridge at Selma to make sure that everybody had the right to vote,” she said.

Marisa Franco, 27, saw a friend’s Facebook post about the effort, then showed up at the warehouse to volunteer Friday morning.

“I think that it’s really central to democracy that everybody who is eligible to vote can vote and has the least amount of barriers possible, so I’m just here to make sure that every vote counts,” she said.

Races for governor and U.S. Senate also are tight in Florida, which Trump referred to in a tweet that said: “You mean they are just now finding votes in Florida and Georgia — but the Election was on Tuesday? Let’s blame the Russians and demand an immediate apology from President Putin!”

Trump’s message refers to allegations that Russian interference helped him win in 2016, but it wasn’t clear exactly what the president meant about votes being found.

Returns showed Kemp with 50.3 percent of almost 4 million votes, a roughly 63,000-vote lead over Abrams. That’s a narrow sum, considering the near-presidential election year turnout, though sufficient for the majority required for outright victory.

The Associated Press has not declared a winner in the race for Georgia governor. The AP will reassess the race Tuesday, the deadline for counties to certify election results to the state.