GA Election Results: Biden 1.7K Behind Trump; Ossoff Optimistic

Updated at 1:15 a.m. Friday

GEORGIA — As election workers counted the remaining ballots in seven Georgia counties early Friday, the gap between President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden continued to tighten with less than 2,000 votes separating the two candidates.

Both Georgia seats in the U.S. Senate appear headed to runoff elections, which one candidate said was due to strong voter registration efforts.

As of 1:15 a.m. on Friday, Trump had a lead of 1,709 votes over Biden in the Peach State, according to CNN. The state elections website listed Trump's lead at 1,775 votes at that point.

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said about 10:35 p.m. there were 14,097 ballots still outstanding in Georgia.

As of 1:20 a.m. Friday, Trump had 49.40 percent of the vote, with 2.447 million votes, to Biden's 49.36 percent and 2.445 million votes.

Democrat Jon Ossoff, who is trying to unseat GOP incumbent Sen. David Perdue, spoke to CNN at 12:30 a.m. Friday.

“It’s clear that Georgia is the most competitive state in the county. It’s not just me, it's also Rev. (Raphael) Warnock in the other race, that will determine the balance of power in the Senate,” Ossoff said. “Voters are fed up with pandemic, fed up with politicians trying to take away their health care.”

Ossoff said seeing Georgians stand in long lines to cast their ballots and demand better representation from their leaders makes him optimistic heading to a runoff.

He credited the work of former gubernatorial candidates Stacey Abrams and others in the past 10 years to register people to vote.

As ballots are counted, the lead that Perdue had over Ossoff has dwindled, and fell to 49.87 percent early Friday for the Republican, compared to 47.81 percent for Ossoff. If this holds, the two will face off in a Jan. 5 runoff election.

As of 12:45 a.m. Friday, Perdue led Ossoff by 101,062 votes, according to the state elections website. Currently, 49.88 percent of the vote have been cast for the incumbent Republican, while 47.81 percent of ballots have been cast for Ossoff.

Trump Jr. Rallies GOP Faithful

Donald Trump Jr. and others spoke at a small rally in Buckhead Thursday night asserting Democrats tried to steal the election.

“The times in which you only take the votes you want is over,” said U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, who lost his Senate challenge to Kelly Loeffler.

The gathering in the parking lot outside the Georgia GOP headquarters then focused on the Jan. 5 Senate runoffs in Georgia.

“Guess what? You’re going to have another election here in about two months that could decide the fate of the U.S. Senate,” Trump Jr. told the crowd, according to AJC.com.

Most Fulton County votes are now included in the totals and the last large surge of votes will come from Chatham County, the largest Democratic stronghold left to complete counting, and Clayton County.

Outstanding ballots as of 10:35 p.m. Thursday were clustered in these counties:

• Clayton County: 4,355
• Cobb County: 700
• Floyd County: 444
• Forsyth County: 1,545
• Gwinnett County: 4,800
• Laurens County: 1,797
• Taylor County: 456

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms told MSNBC at 6:30 p.m. that Chatham County votes should be wrapped up soon, which would "significantly" close the gap between Trump and Biden.

“I’m looking forward to having the nation see that we’ve done it (taken Georgia),” Lance Bottoms said.

When asked if Georgia Democrats could keep enthusiasm for the election high as both U.S. Senate seats seem headed to January runoff elections, the mayor said it was possible through the hard work of former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams and others. "I’ll be using my voice, " she added.

Every legal ballot will be counted, Gabriel Sterling, Georgia’s voting implementation manager in the secretary of state's office, said during Thursday's press conference.

At a 3 p.m. briefing Sterling refused to estimate when all ballots will be counted, when pressed by reporters.

"It will take time. We anticipate having the count done when the legal deadline for certification is, which is 10 days after the election," Sterling said. "We can't know how long the process will take. We hope to have clarity, however, with so many elections being so close, we are trying to get all the legal votes accurately."

Sterling said election officials in the counties with ongoing vote counts want to be diligent, accurate and to ensure the actual vote reflects the voters’ intent.

Perdue tweeted his support Thursday night for the president's unproven claims of widespread voter fraud in the states where he's lost ground.

"Every lawful vote cast should be counted, once," Perdue tweeted. "If that happens, I believe @realDonaldTrump will be re-elected."

While the race is close, Perdue's Senate Campaign Manager Ben Fry believes his candidate will ultimately win. On Thursday, he released the following statement on the U.S. Senate race in Georgia that said in part, "If overtime is required when all of the votes have been counted, we're ready, and we will win."

Ossoff's campaign manager, Ellen Foster, released the following statement regarding a potential runoff early next year, "When a runoff is called and held in January, Georgians are going to send Jon to the Senate to defend their health care and put the interests of working families and small businesses ahead of corporate lobbyists."

The Democrat tweeted early Thursday night, "This is our moment, Georgia."

On Wednesday, President Trump filed a lawsuit in Chatham County, near Savannah, requesting ballot counting be halted. Georgia Republican Party Chairman David Shafer said the lawsuit was against the Chatham County Board of Elections.

Shafer tweeted on Wednesday that Republican observers in Chatham County had “watched an unidentified woman mix over 50 ballots into a stack of uncounted absentee ballots,” according to a press release by the Georgia Republican Party.

On Thursday morning, Chatham County Judge James Bass dismissed that lawsuit, "after county officials provided evidence to prove all ballots were legitimate and late ballots were not being accepted," WSB-TV reported.

Related: Georgia U.S. Senate Race: Perdue, Ossoff Could Face Runoff

In an interview with CNN shortly after the press conference, Fulton County elections chief Rick Barron said they sent roughly 140,000 ballots to be tabulated before 11 a.m. Thursday. He said that leaves roughly 2,000 ballots to be counted, but about 4,900 total ballots to be counted when including absentee ballots.

"There is usually a low percentage of ballots that get adjudicated by voter review panel, then tabulation takes little time and then will be up momentarily," Barron said.

Sterling noted this is the first time Georgia has used paper ballots in 20 years. And Chatham County has a unique system, which has slowed down its count; that county has about 17,000 ballots left to tally.

Tired election officials are working to get the county done today if possible, Sterling said, and working with counties who may have questions about how to get it done properly.

"Fast is great, but we more appreciate accuracy," Sterling said. "People will believe it more if it’s on the winning or losing side. We told people to expect some results on Election Day. We got most out there."

Georgia is one of a handful of states that has yet to declare a winner in the presidential race as of Thursday. Other states still counting ballots include Arizona, Nevada, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.

Lawsuits have been filed, or the threat of legal action has been made by the Trump campaign, in Arizona, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

Projections by The Associated Press put Biden's lead at 264 electoral votes after the Great Lakes state wins. Any of the battleground states yet to be called — Georgia (16 electoral votes), Nevada (6 electoral votes), North Carolina (15 electoral votes) or Pennsylvania (20 electoral votes) — would make him the president-elect."

Return to Patch for the latest vote tally. Subscribe to free News Alerts for election results.

Claims from the Trump campaign that there is vote fraud have been denounced by members of both political parties. Many states routinely count absentee and mail-in ballots in the days after in-person voting.

To bolster respect for the country’s election process, two high-profile politicians — one a Republican governor and one a Democratic U.S. senator — have launched a $1 million national ad campaign urging Americans to wait for final counts and respect how elections are run.

In a 2:20 a.m. speech in the White House, Donald Trump claimed victory in the Peach State and said the election is a fraud that requires U.S. Supreme Court action.

Biden has said he expects to win the race, and none of the national news organizations have called Georgia for either candidate.

According to the New York Times, Biden’s campaign manager, Jennifer O’Malley Dillon, said Trump’s remarks were “outrageous, unprecedented, and incorrect,” and “a naked effort to take away the democratic rights of American citizens.”

A water line break delayed Fulton County totals as election workers stopped counting absentee ballots at 10:30 p.m. Tuesday in the traditionally Democratic https://patch.com/florida/sara.... As of 1:15 a.m. Wednesday DeKalb County, with a large Black electorate, had not finished counting votes either.

According to the state election site, 89 percent of DeKalb precincts had reported, and Biden had roughly 130,000 votes to about 24,000 for Trump.

“Millions and millions of people voted for us tonight,” Trump said in remarks at the White House. “A very sad group of people is trying to disenfranchise that group of people and we won't stand for it.”

He said his campaign was ready to celebrate the surge in voter turnout nationwide, and winning states he didn’t expect to win, including Florida, Texas, and Georgia. He noted the vote wasn't complete in the Peach State, but said, “they’re never going to catch us."

The voting should stop, the president said, and he said his team will head to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"This is a fraud on the American public this is an embarrassment to our country," Trump said. "We were getting ready to win this election, frankly, we did win this election.”

(Find real-time results from the state election office at the bottom of this story.)

With Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona, Pennsylvania and a few other states all deemed too close to call, Biden made a brief appearance Tuesday to tell supporters he's optimistic he'll win the presidency.

Biden said, in part:

"We’re going to have to be patient until the hard work of tallying votes is finished. And it’s not over until every ballot is counted. We’re feeling good about where we are. We’re confident about Arizona, just called for Minnesota and still in the game for Georgia, though that’s not what we expected. Feeling really good about Wisconsin and Michigan, too.

"By the way, it’s going to take time to count the votes but we’re gonna win Pennsylvania. We could know the results as early as tomorrow morning, but it could take longer. It’s not my place or Donald Trump’s place to call this election, that’s the decision of the American people, and I’m optimistic about the outcome.

"Keep the faith, guys, we’re gonna win this."

Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Maryland’s Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, both centrists, promoted bipartisan governance in the “Respect the Vote” campaign on national cable, streaming and social.

“The world is watching. What happens in the coming days and weeks will define America for decades to come,” said Hogan, seen as a GOP presidential contender in four years. “I know emotions are running high, but we need to keep faith in the voters and our democracy ... Let the process work, just like it has every four years for over 200 years.”

“This unprecedented campaign has challenged our nation to its core,” Manchin says. “Throughout our nation’s 240 year history, we have persevered through many hardships, and we will continue to do so now as our country begins to unify around solving the problems facing our families and communities.”

After a water pipe burst earlier Tuesday in a room housing mail-in ballots at State Farm Arena, election officials confirmed results will be delayed. No ballots were damaged according to a statement from Fulton County.

A statement from Fulton County said the county would report results Tuesday night for about 86,000 absentee ballots, as well as Election Day and early voting results.

"As planned, Fulton County will continue to tabulate the remainder of absentee ballots over the next two days. Absentee ballot processing requires that each ballot is opened, signatures verified, and ballots scanned. This is a labor-intensive process that takes longer to tabulate than other forms of voting. Fulton County did not anticipate having all absentee ballots processed on Election Day," officials said.

Earlier on Tuesday, a federal judge ordered the U.S. Postal Service to check sorting facilities, including some in Atlanta, for any remaining mail-in ballots. Postal authorities must prioritize delivery of ballots, the court order said.

Read more: GA Senate Elections: Warnock, Loeffler In Runoff; Perdue Leads