Family and supporters hold runoff signs as Democratic US Senate candidate Rev. Raphael Warnock speaks during an Election Night event
Credit: Jessica McGowan/POOL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
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Joe Biden has won the US election having secured a majority of 279 electoral college votes. However, ballot counting continues in several states with Mr Biden and Mr Trump facing very tight margins.
Mr Biden is just 0.2 percent, or 9,1260 votes, ahead of Mr Trump in Georgia, but with more than 99 per cent of the ballots counted the president-elect looks likely to win the state.
Georgia state officials have indicated that a recount is likely to take place in late November. A recount can be requested by a candidate if the margin is under 0.5 per cent of votes cast according to Georgia state law.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said: “Right now Georgia remains too close to call. Out of approximately 5 million votes cast we’ll have a margin of a few thousand. With a margin that small, there will be a recount in Georgia.”
Fulton County, the state’s largest and home to Atlanta, tipped the state. Mr Trump was leading on election night but with with 99 per cent of the votes declared, Joe Biden is predicated to reclaim this Democratic stronghold with a margin of over 57,500 votes.
Fulton County elections director Richard Barron told CNN they were "close to being done", and that factoring in provisional ballots – including the overseas and military votes – meant that the county’s overall count of unknown ballots was nearly 5,000.
The county of Clayton is also responsible for the Democrats recent advantage. While several counties in Georgia sent election workers home overnight, counters in Clayton worked through until the morning.
The typically blue-leaning county of Gwinnett is expected to remain blue, bolstering Mr Biden’s lead in the state.
Gabriel Sterling, an election official, said it would "take time" to process tens of thousands of remaining ballots. Up to 8,000 overseas ballots could still arrive from Service Members.
Early on Wednesday, Mr Trump prematurely claimed he carried Georgia – and several other states that were too early to call.
"It’s … clear that we have won Georgia. We’re up by 2.5 per cent, or 117,000 (votes) with only seven per cent (of the vote) left" to count, Mr Trump said during an early morning appearance at the White House.
On November 4, the Trump campaign and the Georgia Republican Party lodged the complaint against the Chatham County Board of Election in an attempt to halt voting.
It was alleged by Sean Pumphrey, a Republican poll observer, that he had witnessed 53 late unprocessed absentee ballots being illegally added to a pile of processed absentee ballots due to be tabulated in Chatham County.
Ballots must be received by 7pm on election day to count according to state law.
The Trump campaign argued: “Failing to ensure that absentee ballots received after the deadline are stored in a manner to ensure that such ballots are not inadvertently or intentionally counted, as required under Georgia law, harms the interests of the Trump Campaign and President Trump because it could lead to the dilution of legal votes cast in support of President Trump."
Although this was alleged, no evidence provided by Mr Pumphrey of misconduct.
Mr Pumphrey also admitted he did not know if the unprocessed ballots arrived late after 7pm on Election Day.
Sabrina German, the director of Chatham County’s Voter Registration Office, backed up the board witness’s testimony that said that the votes were received on time.
On Thursday November 5, the case was dismissed by Judge James Base with giving an explanation for his decision in the one hour long hearing.
What’s going on in Georgia’s senate race?
Both Senate contests in Georgia will be decided in a special run-off election on January 5, 2021, which will determine whether Republicans or Democrats control the upper chamber of congress.
No candidates for the state’s two seats were able to reach the 50% of vote required to win a place in the Senate.
Nationally, both parties have won 48 seats and need 51 for a majority. Though Alaska and North Carolina have not been called yet, these are led by, and likely to be won by, Republican candidates. This means if the Democrats win both seats in Georgia, 2021, the Senate will be tied 50-50.
In this circumstance, the vice-president, Kamala Harris, effectively becomes the 101st senator and decides any tie-breaks, which would give the Democrats complete legislative control of congress. But if the Republicans win just one of the seats in Georgia, Joe Biden faces an uphill battle passing his legislative agenda through a Republican chamber.
The first race in Georgia took place between incumbent Republican David Perdue, 70, a businessman first appointed to the Senate in 2014, and Democrat Jon Ossoff, 33, a former investigative journalist.
Senator Perdue has won 48.9 per cent and Mr Ossoff, 47.9 per cent, with 99% of the vote counted.
Georgia’s second Republican Senator, Kelly Loeffler, received 25.9 per cent of the vote and her challenger, Democrat Raphael Warnock, received 32.9 per cent.
They’re the top two finishers in a crowded field that also included Republican Rep. Doug Collins. But no candidate was able to get the 50 per cent threshold needed in order to win outright.
Ms Loeffler, 49, a wealthy businesswoman, was appointed last year to replace retiring Sen. Johnny Isakson.
The candidate recently tweeted in support of Mr Trump’s calls to "count every legal vote", and pledged to bring in a bill that would "increase penalties for those who attempt to interfere with the will of the American people".
Mr Warnock, 51, is trying to become Georgia’s first Black US senator. The Reverend is pastor of the Atlanta church where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr preached.
Demographic changes
Georgia is not obvious Democrat country. This is the Deep South. No Democrat has taken the state in a presidential election since Bill Clinton 28 years ago.
Georgia joined the Confederacy when it split from the Union. It is deeply religious and deeply conservative. For decades it has been redder than red.
But now the cracks are showing. Polls had Mr Biden and Mr Trump neck-and-neck in the state, but Mr Biden has gained gained advantage.
Early voting
A week before election day almost three million people had voted early in Georgia, closing in on 2016’s total of a little over four million. The remarkable turnout surge has Democrats optimistic.
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