Getty Stacey Abrams and Brian Kemp are in a close race to be Georgia's next governor.
After Brian Kemp jumped out to a sizable lead, the Georgia race has narrowed as Stacey Abrams has her eyes set on a potential runoff. The Abrams campaign has yet to concede citing thousands of absentee votes as well as provisional ballots that have yet to be counted. Kemp leads Abrams 51 percent to 48 percent with 2,536 of 2,634 precincts reporting per 11 Alive Atlanta.
Lauren Groh-Wargo, Abrams campaign manager, provided an update to supporters at their Atlanta party. Here’s a transcript of Groh-Wargo’s remarks per Abrams’ Director of Strategic Communications Abigail Collazo.
First of all, more than 3.7 million people voted – which is about 1.2 million more voters than the number that turned out in 2014. Nearly all of the outstanding votes to be counted are in Democratic strongholds – the metro Atlanta region and areas of the Sout. We also know that there are tens of thousands of absentee ballots around the state – many of them Abrams’ voters – that have yet to be counted. In fact, we’re being told that more than 20,000 absentee ballots in Gwinnett County won’t even be counted until the morning and in Cobb County, we’re told there are between 25,000 and 26,000 vote by mail ballots that also have yet to be counted. Lastly, we know thousands of voters were forced to cast a provisional ballot today due to machine breakdowns and shoddy election administration, overseen by the current Secretary of State Brian Kemp. So we have three factors to be considered here – outstanding votes, absentee ballots to be counted, and provisional ballots – and given those three issues, we believe this is likely heading to a runoff. So it’s still going be a long night, and we’re unlikely to have anything definitive to say the rest of tonight. Here’s what Georgia voters need to know: we will fight for every single vote, just like we did today when we won extended polling hours to make sure every eligible voter could cast a ballot.
The Abrams’ Campaign Is Fighting for a Georgia Runoff Election
Abrams does not appear to be fighting for an outright win but has her sights set on a December runoff. For this to happen, Kemp would have to receive less than 50 percent of the votes. Abrams addressed the same Atlanta crowd a little after 1:30 a.m. Eastern, reiterating her campaign manager’s earlier message noting the “best is yet to come.” Looking ahead to a potential runoff, Abrams said voters who did not vote for her the first time will have a chance for a “do over.”
Abrams still has a lot of ground to make up for a runoff to happen, but there appears to be a sizable amount of votes yet to be counted. There were also numerous technical issues for voters, particularly in the greater Atlanta area. Some voters were unable to vote using the traditional method and cast provisional ballots that have yet to be counted.
It does not look like we will know the results of the election until the morning of November 7 at the earliest. According to Alive 11, a good number of the remaining ballots are in south Fulton County, traditionally a Democratic voting area, along with Alpharetta, typically an area that has gone to Republican candidates in the past.
“I’m here tonight to tell you votes remain to be counted … We believe our chance for a stronger Georgia is just within reach,” Abrams said per Slate. “But we cannot seize it until all voices are heard. And I promise you tonight we are going to make sure every vote is counted.”
According to Alive 11’s Ryan Kruger, Abrams needs a little less than 100,000 more votes to force a runoff. Abrams is hoping the combination of mail-in ballots as well as provisional votes that have been unaccounted for can give her enough.