Former Vice President Joe Biden was projected Saturday to be the next president of the United States, but as of Thursday President Donald Trump was not conceding the race amid the lawsuits his campaign has filed against election results.
Georgia remained still too close to call Thursday morning, but Biden has steadily expanded his lead over Trump as elections officials count the last outstanding ballots.
At least one of Georgia’s two Public Service Commission seats remained in question Tuesday. The race may require a runoff on Dec. 1 if Republican Lauren “Bubba” McDonald does not have a majority of the votes. As of Tuesday afternoon, he had 49.9 percent. Here is a link to the latest live election results for Georgia.
Highlights:
- In Georgia, Biden led Trump by roughly 14,000 votes in the latest tally released by the Secretary of State’s Office Tuesday. Few ballots remain to be counted, though exactly how many is unclear
- Stacey Abrams, credited with laying the groundwork for Democratic success in Georgia, predicted the outcome wouldn’t change even with a recount.
- Biden no longer needs Georgia’s 16 electoral votes to secure his election, but Democrats still see the state as a monumental prize
Here’s the latest:
3 p.m. Monday:
Gwinnett transit referendum fails
Gwinnett County voters last week rejected a $12.1 billion proposal that would have expanded transit in the county, according to final results certified by Gwinnett County on Monday. It’s the second time in less than two years residents declined to add more transit options.
The failure of the transit referendum by just over 1,000 votes — out of nearly 400,000 cast — falls within the margin of a possible recount. Gwinnett Commission Chairman Charlotte Nash said Friday she had not yet asked for information on how to request a recount.
- Arielle Kass
2 p.m. :
Gwinnett approves additional votes, widens the vote margin for Biden in Georgia
Almost a week after Election Day, Gwinnett County is officially done counting more than 416,000 votes.
The Gwinnett County Board of Voter Registration and Elections met Monday morning to approve provisional ballots, which are votes cast on paper when a voter cannot be found on a polling place’s voter roll or does not have proper identification. Those who cast provisional ballots must cure them by presenting proof of address or ID.
Of 935 provisional ballots cast, 669 were approved by the board Monday and added to Georgia’s total vote count. Once the final ballots were counted and submitted to the state, the board certified the election results, formally bringing the count to a close.
Gwinnett’s transit referendum was still incredibly close when the vote count was complete. “No” slightly led, with 50.13% of the vote — just 1,013 votes ahead of “Yes.” READ MORE from Gwinnett
- Amanda Coyne
The Georgia Secretary of State updated its unofficial statewide tally to show Biden with a lead of 10,610 votes over Trump in Georgia.
And Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan became the latest Republican elected official to say there’s no evidence of voter fraud or irregularities in Georgia.
Early voting began Monday in the runoff to decide who will serve out the remaining weeks of U.S. Rep. John Lewis' term. The Dec. 1 runoff between Robert Franklin and Kwanza Hall is open to registered voters in Atlanta’s 5th Congressional District, which includes portions of Clayton, DeKalb and Fulton counties. The winner of the special election runoff election will serve until early January, when former State Sen. NIkema Williams begins a full term to succeed Lewis, who died in July. Williams was elected Nov. 3.
7:40 p.m. Sunday
Trump taps Doug Collins to lead recount team in Georgia
The Trump campaign announced Sunday that U.S. Rep. Doug Collins will lead its recount team in Georgia in a statement that repeated baseless falsehoods about the election.
A statement from the campaign echoed the Trump campaign’s allegations of voter fraud in states where he trailed Joe Biden, claims that have been thoroughly discredited by bipartisan officials. The state’s top election official — a Republican — has said there’s no evidence of any wrongdoing in Georgia.
“Georgians deserve a free and open process, and they will get one,” said Collins, who is a lawyer.
The four-term Gainesville congressman lost a bid for U.S. Senate last week to fellow Republican U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler. He emphasized his pro-Trump allegiance throughout the failed run, and has since become one of the only senior Republican elected officials in Georgia to promote the falsehood that Biden “stole” the election.
Democrats quickly mocked the announcement.
”If the best lawyer the GOP can find is Doug Collins,“ said Democratic state Rep. Scott Holcomb, “then they’ve conceded defeat.“
- Greg Bluestein
6:40 p.m.
Georgia’s latest totals show Biden ahead by 10,353 votes
The secretary of state’s office released updated vote totals Sunday evening. According to the latest tally, Biden’s lead over President Donald Trump continues to grow in Georgia, with the projected president-elect ahead of his Republican opponent by 10,353 votes.
With nearly 5 million votes cast in the presidential race in Georgia, that still makes it a very tight margin of victory. Biden has 49.48% of the vote compared with Trump’s 49.28%, according to the state figures.
5:50 p.m.
Pro-Trump rally at Capitol, convoy makes a stop at City Hall
Demonstrators gathered Saturday in Atlanta at the Capitol, CNN Center and State Farm Arena to show their support for President Donald Trump, who has questioned whether Joe Biden won the presidential race fairly.
On Sunday afternoon supporters returned to the Capitol but the 50 or so were about a quarter of the size of the crowd that had assembled the day before.
Also, a a pro-Trump convoy stopped in front of Atlanta City Hall on Sunday.
State Rep. Vernon Jones, a Democrat who has been a vocal supporter of the Republican president, told the demonstrators: “We are defiant in protecting our rights. And we’re not going to back down.”
- Tamar Hallerman
5 p.m.
Biden’s lead grows with latest Gwinnett numbers
Gwinnett updated its vote totals today in the wake of its absentee ballots results that were expected to be released. Since Friday’s vote count, Joe Biden gained another 280 votes in the county, President Donald Trump gained 123 and Libertarian Jo Jorgensen added six votes.
That keeps Biden in the lead in Gwinnet with 58.43% of the votes cast for president, Trump at 40.21% and Jorgensen at 1.36%, according to the numbers from the Gwinnett County Board of Voter Registrations and Elections.
3:05 p.m.
Georgia aims to get final ballots counted by Monday before audit begins
Election workers plan to finish counting almost all votes in Georgia by the end of the day Monday as President-elect Joe Biden held a 10,195-vote lead.
There didn’t appear to be many votes left across the state.
Gwinnett County planned to review 965 provisional ballots Monday, with those found to be valid added to the state’s total. The county also intended to report the results of 538 absentee ballots sometime Sunday.
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 on Friday, the deadline for military and international ballots, according to state election data. Domestic absentee ballots were due by 7 p.m. Tuesday.
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 Monday.
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.
- Mark Niesse
2 p.m.
Stacey Abrams says recount won’t change outcome in Georgia
Stacey Abrams is drawing acclaim for laying the groundwork for Joe Biden’s success in Georgia, after building a sprawling campaign apparatus and grassroots network that’s helped register hundreds of thousands of new voters.
She also argues that Biden might as well claim Georgia’s 16 electoral votes, even though Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has promised a recount in the race.
“Recounts in Georgia essentially mean a rescan of what’s been done very painstakingly over the last five days,” Abrams said on CNN on Sunday. “And we know that, whether it’s tomorrow or next week, the result will be the same — that Joe Biden has won the state of Georgia.”
- Greg Bluestein
10:20 a.m.
Church was polling site; pastor says more to be done
Due to the pandemic, some churches have pre-recorded their services. As a result, said the Rev. Jeremy Tuck, senior pastor of Living Saint Tabernacle in Forest Park, he was unable to address to historic win in this week’s message.
The church served as a polling site and not only encouraged people in Clayton County to vote, but provided transportation to voters.
Tuck said he plans to talk about the election in next Sunday’s service.
“We’re going to encourage folks to vote for Rev. (Raphael G.) Warnock and Jon Ossoff,” he said of the U.S. Senate races headed to runoffs in Georgia in January. “It doesn’t stop here. We’re going back in January to finish what we started.”
- Shelia Poole
6:04 a.m.
Biden extends lead with more Fulton County votes
President-elect Joe Biden extended his lead over President Donald Trump in Georgia early Sunday morning.
Fulton County released additional results shortly after 2 a.m., widening Biden’s margin to 10,195 votes.
- David Wickert
Recap
A snapshot of divided voters
If you missed it Saturday, here’s a link to an AJC video showing the reaction from both sides in Atlanta after the announcement that Biden was expected to be the next U.S. president: Election 2020: Atlanta reacts to presidential race
Previous updates: Metro Atlantans react to Biden win as he leads Trump in Georgia
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