Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, said Friday morning the state would have a recount because of the slim election margin.
“Right now, Georgia remains too close to call,” he said. “There will be a recount.”
Under Georgia state law, candidates can request a recount if the margin of victory is less than 0.5%. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden gained a small lead over President Donald Trump early Friday morning. The two candidates are separated by about 1,100 votes.
“We are literally looking at a margin of less than a large high school,” Georgia’s voting system implementation manager Gabriel Sterling said. According to Sterling, the state had about 4,169 votes left to count. A recount could take until the end of the month, he noted. The state pays for recounts in Georgia.
Trump and his allies, without citing evidence, have alleged election fraud, but Sterling rejected the claims.
“We’re not seeing any widespread irregularities,” he said.
A recount in the Senate race between incumbent Republican Sen. David Perdue and Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff was unlikely given current vote totals, Sterling said. The two Senate candidates are separated by close to 100,000 votes, or about 2 percentage points. The Senate race is instead poised to head to a runoff election in January.
Meanwhile, as Vice President Joe Biden inches closer to the magical 270 Electoral College votes that will make him the next U.S. President, Trump and his staff say they are not giving up on the election. But they are also saying the president will respect a peaceful transfer of power if it comes to that.
“I think there will be a peaceful transfer of power,” Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow said in an interview on CNBC. “This is the greatest country in the world and we abide by the rule of law as will the president.”
Kudlow also said he has spoken with the president and that he “intends to fight” and prevail, a message also delivered by the president’s reelection campaign.
“This election is not over,” said Matt Morgan, the Trump 2020 campaign general counsel.
The statements come the morning after an angry tirade from Trump in which he falsely accused election officials in contested states of trying to “steal” the election from him. There is no evidence that is happening.
But as trump contemplates his next move, Biden supporters holding signs and American flags have started gathering outside of the Chase Center in Wilmington, Delaware, as the former vice president appears on the cusp of an Electoral College victory.
The crowd outside the events center exchanged shouts of “it’s gonna be a great day” and “here we go, guys!” as votes mounted in Biden’s favor in Pennsylvania, a state that could give him the electoral votes needed to win the presidency.
Some, like Zach Rossetti, 25, have been there for days. After watching Biden vote in their shared hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, on Election Day, Rossetti drove to Wilmington to await a result. He’s been spending days at the Chase Center and nights at a hotel — but today feels different.
“I am so certain we’re going to have a result today,” he said.
Beverly Relyea, 62, a Wilmington native, hasn’t been keeping vigil in the parking lot. But she said she knew it was time to come after Biden took the lead in Pennsylvania earlier this morning. “Got my clothes on, put my hat on, and I came,” she said.
For now, the wait continues. Thomas Kunish, 40, there with his five-year-old son, said he is “treating it like a tailgate.” Between interviews, they are tossing a football back and forth outside their truck — which they slept in last night after driving from Pittsburgh.
Even the stuffed dinosaur on top of the roof of their truck is ready: it’s holding a Biden-Harris sign.
Their enthusiasm is buoyed by Biden edge ahead of President Donald Trump in the all-important battleground of Pennsylvania for the first time Friday, adding to a sense of inevitability that the Scranton native would reach the 270 electoral votes he needs to capture the presidency.
Biden leads Trump by more than 6,000 votes as of Friday morning, a difference of 0.1%.
Votes were still being counted and Biden had not been declared the winner in the Keystone State. Republicans argued that at least some of the outstanding ballots would go for Trump.
But the momentum and the math increasingly appears to be on Biden’s side.
Pennsylvania, with its 20 electoral votes, was part of the so-called “blue wall” that had carried past Democrats to the White House until 2016. Two other states in the wall, Michigan and Wisconsin, were called for Biden on Wednesday.
Trump got out to an early lead in Pennsylvania Tuesday, but Biden has been closing the gap ever since as a crush of mail-in ballots were counted. Polls had always suggested Democrats were more likely to vote by mail because of concerns about the pandemic. In this case, the polls were right.
Also, Trump had cast doubts on the security of mail voting for months before the election, a line of attack that had made some Republican operatives in states like Pennsylvania and Florida nervous that it would affect their own voters.
Over the past 24 hours, Trump’s margin narrowed even as his campaign aides prematurely declared they had won the state. It closed as Trump incorrectly claimed he had won the election. It got smaller as aides alleged widespread fraud, without citing evidence, and threatened lawsuits.
Trump led Biden in the state by several hundred thousand votes immediately after the election, which was the count of people who turned out in person on Election Day.
Trump won the state by about 44,300 votes in 2016 over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, a 0.72% difference.
Meanwhile, the Federal Aviation Administration placed restrictions on airspace over Joe Biden’s home, affording the Democratic nominee the same security restriction provided to other political VIPs such as the president and vice president.
While the temporary flight restrictions (TFR) appeared to be activated on Friday, it was not clear when they were announced. The FAA referred questions about the restrictions, which limit flights through the area, to the U.S. Secret Service.
The TFRs, which will be in place over Wilmington, Delaware, for several days, are commonly imposed when the president or vice president is traveling out of Washington for an event, such as to a rally.
Like other candidates, Biden received Secret Service protection earlier this year. His security detail was set to grow in coming days as the Secret Service prepared for the possibility he wins, The Washington Post and CNN reported this week.
USA TODAY