Politics

Don’t expect complete elections results until at least Thursday morning, SOS says

ATLANTA — Click here for live updates for Thursday Nov. 5 as Georgia counties continue to count ballots.

WEDNESDAY NOV. 4 UPDATES:

Election results continue to come in Wednesday with the presidential race too close to call in several key states. That includes here in Georgia where there are 16 electoral votes up for grabs.

As of Wednesday, President Donald Trump holds onto a slight lead over former Vice President Joe Biden.

Channel 2 Action News will have live streaming election coverage throughout the day Thursday. Download the WSB Now app on your Roku, Amazon Fire or Apple TV to watch LIVE.

[ELECTION RESULTS: Live real-time Georgia 2020 General Election results]

LIVE UPDATES:

2:25 a.m.

Fulton County says about 13,000 ballots are left to count:

2:23 a.m.

1:27 a.m.

Fulton County says it has about 14,000 absentee ballots left to count.

12:46 a.m.

DeKalb County has finished its unofficial count of the ballots. The county processed 369,948 votes, in the following categories:

  • Election Day: 47,553
  • Advance Voting: 195,376
  • Absentee by Mail: 127,019

12:17 a.m.

Fulton County to continue counting ballots throughout the night:

11:25 p.m.

Secretary of State’s office tells Channel 2 investigative reporter Justin Gray there will not be complete election results until at least Thursday morning:

11:07 p.m.

Fulton County officials tell Channel 2′s Matt Johnson that about 20,000 absentee ballots are left to be counted.

10:59 p.m.

The SPLC is urging voters to cure their votes by Friday:

"As we patiently await results in races up and down the ballot in Georgia, we’re urging voters who submitted ballots absentee to make sure those ballots were counted by heading to www.mvp.sos.ga.gov. No matter what the outcome of elections this year, we want the voices of everyone who sent in a ballot to be heard in our democratic process.

"Voters that requested an absentee ballot – and mailed it back to the Secretary of State’s office OR voted by drop box – can go to www.mvp.sos.ga.gov to determine the status of that ballot.

"If a voter’s absentee ballot from November 3rd was rejected, they have the right in Georgia state law to contact their county registrar and ‘cure’ it by Friday at 5PM, in order to make it count. Documentation may need to be provided to the registrar.

“If voters need help contacting their county registrar or compiling any required documents, they can call 866-OUR-VOTE.”

10:30 p.m.

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger says that as of 10:25 p.m., there are approximately 90,735 total votes outstanding.

Here is a breakdown of votes left:

  • Fulton: 30,862
  • DeKalb: 6,606
  • Chatham: 17,157

The rest are scattered across other counties.

10:10 p.m.

More workers were being brought in to State Farm Arena to count outstanding votes in Fulton County.

9:39 p.m.

Elections officials said Georgia will finish counting votes some time overnight, likely by 3 a.m.

8:57 p.m.

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger says that as of just before 9:00 p.m., there are approximately 107,000 ballots still outstanding.

3 counties with most still outstanding:

  • FULTON: 37,000
  • DEKALB: 8,000
  • CHATHAM: 17,000

8:24 p.m.

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger says that as of 8:00 p.m., there are approximately 122,535 ballots still outstanding.

“Officials in numerous counties are continuing to count ballots, with strong security protocols in place to protect the integrity of our election,” said Raffensperger. “We have long anticipated – and said publicly – that counting would most likely take place into Wednesday night and perhaps Thursday morning. We’re on pace to accomplish that responsibly, ensuring that the voice of every eligible voter is heard. It’s important to act quickly, but it’s more important to get it right.”

8:02 p.m.

Gwinnett County just released this statement about counting ballots:

“In an effort to expedite the complete count of the remaining Gwinnett County General and Special Election votes, the County, with assistance from Dominion Voting Systems technicians, will revisit the batches of absentee by mail ballots that were added to the Election Night totals without being fully adjudicated. Once these ballots have been fully adjudicated, the absentee by mail totals will be updated, and together with the remaining uncounted votes, the results will be tallied and published. Additional uncounted votes include approximately 4,400 absentee ballots received on Election Day, votes to be rescanned from one corrupted data card from the Shorty Howell advance in-person voting site, and any of the approximately 1,000 provisional ballots that can be counted. The adjudication process is scheduled to begin at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, November 5 and is estimated to take about three days to complete.”

7:03 p.m.

Trump campaign asks judge to order Ga. election officials to follow law on storing, counting absentee ballots.

5:18 p.m.

The Secretary of State says there are about 185,000 unaccounted ballots in Georgia.

4:38 p.m.

ABC News projects Michigan will go to Joe Biden.

4:15 p.m.

Gwinnett election officials say there will be no updates to their vote totals until after they finish the adjudication process, which will likely go into the weekend.

Adjudication will start tomorrow.

4:03 p.m.

Cobb County says it will have their ballots counted by the end of the day:

3:20 p.m.

Channel 2′s Justin Gray has learned that there are still around 200,000 Georgia ballots left to count, according to state elections officials.

Those numbers reflect counties that are processing more ballots that were the last to arrive by the 7 p.m. Tuesday deadline for drop-off and mail-in ballots.

2:20 p.m.

The Associated Press has called Wisconsin for Joe Biden. Several other battleground states are still too close to call.

2:17 p.m.

The Fulton elections director now says results won’t be available until between 9 p.m. and midnight.

2:09 p.m.

President Trump’s campaign will hold a news conference at 3:30 p.m. in Philadelphia. Pennsylvania is one of several states where the race has not been called.

1:20 p.m.

Here is an update on possible scenarios in control of the U.S. Senate.

1:01 p.m.

An adjudication review panel will meet at 2 p.m. today in Fulton County.

12:41 p.m

Channel 2′s Audrey Washington is in DeKalb County as their election workers count absentee ballots.

12:07 p.m.

Fulton County election officials told Channel 2′s Steve Gehlbach they hope to publish the results by 9 p.m. tonight.

11:48 a.m.

An update from the Secretary of State’s Office: All early votes in Fulton have been counted. During an earlier news conference, the secretary of state said Fulton had 43,000 early votes left.

11:30 a.m.

Georgia Secretary of State Raffensperger held a news conference to update. The secretary says there are at least 200,000 outstanding absentee ballots and another 43,000 early votes.

“I want everyone to know by the sound of my voice that every legal vote in Georgia will count. We have about 200,000 ballots left to be counted. With the absentee ballot process, and there are also about 40,000 to 50,000 early votes that need to be counted. Every legal vote will be counted. We’re saying that every legal ballot will be counted in Georgia because that’s our process,” Raffensperger said.

10:53 a.m.

Fulton County says it has around 67,000 absentee ballots left to be processed. Election director says they hope to be done by around 7 p.m. tonight.

10:21 a.m.

Cobb County says it still has around 15,000 ballots left to count. Says it will be done by late today or early tomorrow morning.

9:34 a.m.

Channel 2′s partners at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports Fulton County election workers have started counting ballots again at State Farm Arena.

There was a delay Tuesday in tabulating absentee ballots while the repairs were being made to a burst pipe.

Channel 2′s Steve Gehlbach is in touch with the Fulton County elections board for any developments.

8:44 a.m.

Channel 2 Gwinnett County Bureau Chief Tony Thomas spoke with county officials about yesterday’s software glitch.

Thomas was told election officials have counted most of the outstanding ballots with few thousands remaining.

8:10 a.m.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger joined Good Morning America on Channel 2 to update the voting process.

“By midday, we should pretty much be through it. By the end of the day, we’ll definitely have it done," he said. “Fulton is a little behind I should mention.”

GMA’s Robin Roberts asked Raffensperger with the race close what the probability is that we could see a recount in Georgia.

“I don’t get into probabilities. We just do the counting at the end of the day. But at any race that’s within half percent, state rep, state senator, congressman or presidential race, a candidate could ask for that. So we just have to wait and see," he said.

8:00 a.m.

WSB Washington Correspondent Jamie Dupree gives an update on the key Senate races as Republicans fight to keep control. Dupree reports Democrats are projected to barely hang onto control of the House.

7:00 a.m.

Democratic nominee for U.S Senate Raphael Warnock sat down live with Channel 2 Action News This Morning to discuss the upcoming runoff with Sen. Kelly Loeffler.

“I’m grateful for the momentum we’re feeling across the state of Georgia,” Warnock said. " I think at the end of the day, we have to remind ourselves that we are Georgians, we are Americans and that is all we got even with the partisan divide among our country."

Channel 2 Action News reached out to Loeffler overnight but she was not available for an interview Wednesday morning.

5:42 a.m.

Craig Owens declared victory in the Cobb County Sheriff’s race over incumbent Sheriff Neil Warren. Channel 2 Cobb Bureau Chief Chris Jose reports Owens, who is a major with Cobb police, will be the first black sheriff in Cobb history

5:05 a.m.

Here is where The Associated Press has called the elections so far:

  • For Biden: Maine, Arizona, Hawaii, Minnesota, New Hampshire, California, Oregon, Washington, Washington, D.C., New York, New Mexico, Vermont, Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, New Jersey, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island
  • For Trump: Oklahoma, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, West Virginia, Kentucky, Arkansas, Indiana, North Dakota, Nebraska, Louisiana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Kansas, Idaho, Missouri, Utah, Ohio, Iowa, Montana, Florida and Texas.
  • Too close to call: Georgia, North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. The AP also has not yet called a winner for Alaska.

5:00 a.m.

Georgia isn’t the only state where the election is too close to call. Here is what is happening in other states, according to ABC News.

  • Biden took the lead in Wisconsin -but it is a narrow one. The former vice president is currently leading Trump 49.3% to 49.0%, a margin of 9,315 votes.
  • Michigan has outstanding vote in some key Democratic areas including Detroit. Michigan currently has 78% of the expected vote in, with Trump leading 51.6% to Biden’s 46.7, a margin of 217,347 votes.
  • In Pennsylvania, the expected vote has been at 74% for the past couple of hours, with Trump still holding onto a lead of 677,988 votes (55.7%-43%).
  • Arizona has seen little movement for the past few hours, with the expected vote at 82% and Biden having a slight advantage, 51.8%-46.8% - or 130,665 votes.

4:01 a.m.

Cobb County election officials tell Channel 2 Action News that it will resume tabulating votes Wednesday morning.

2:45 a.m.

Carolyn Bourdeaux sends statement declaring victory in Georgia’s 7th Congressional District:

"Three years ago, I stepped up to take on a four-term incumbent. They said this district could never be won by a Democrat, but we knew better. Together, we put this race on the map. And today, we finished the job.

“I got into this race because I believe all Georgians deserve affordable, quality health care, and because we need to get control of COVID-19 to get our children back in school and our economy back on track. It is the honor of a lifetime to be your Congresswoman-elect, and I will carry your stories and experiences with me every day as we work together to build a brighter future for our children.”

2:26 a.m.

President Donald Trump spoke to a crowd at the White House early Wednesday saying that he intends to take the election to the U.S. Supreme Court. Trump also claimed to win Georgia, although the race is too close to call.

“It’s also clear that we have won Georgia. We’re up by 2.5% or 117,000 votes with only 7% left. They’re never gonna catch us. They can’t catch us. Likewise, we’ve clearly won North Carolina. Where we’re up 1.4% or 77,000 votes, with only approximately 5% left -- they can’t catch us.”

1:40 a.m.

Democrat Lucy McBath wins reelection to U.S. House in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District, defeating Republican Karen Handel in a closely watched rematch.

1:15 a.m.

After issues in Fulton and Gwinnett counties tonight, Deputy Secretary of State Jordan Fuchs tells ABC News that Georgia’s two biggest counties, Fulton and Gwinnett, will not report final results tonight.

“They could shock all of us, but I really doubt it,” Fuchs said.

12:44 a.m.

Former Vice President Joe Biden delivered remarks at his campaign headquarters.

“We are going to have to be patient,” Biden said. “It ain’t over until every ballot is counted."

”We’re still in the game for Georgia … and, by the way, we are going to win Pennsylvania."

12:25 a.m.

Channel 2 investigative reporter Justin Gray says Secretary of State’s Office confirmed ballots are still being scanned in Fulton County:

RACES TO WATCH: