The two Senate run-off elections in Georgia were too close to be called, as the polls closed on Tuesday night, according to NBC News.
The disputes will determine which party will control the Senate over the next two years. Democrats seek unified control of Congress and the White House. Republicans want a check against President-elect Joe Biden’s agenda.
In a competition, Republican David Perdue, 71, runs against Democrat Jon Ossoff, 33, who runs a documentary production company. Perdue seeks a second term in the Senate after his first ended on Sunday.
The other special election pits Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler, 50, against Democrat Raphael Warnock, 51, a senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. preached. The vacancy, which opened after former Republican senator Johnny Isakson retired early, will be re-elected in 2022.
Both elections went to the second round after no candidate won more than 50% of the vote in the general election.
Counties started reporting the results, with some reports from small counties already complete. Cobb County, in the Atlanta metropolitan area, said it will not finish counting the results tonight and will resume counting the ballots on Wednesday at 1 pm ET, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution said.
A sign is seen when voters line up for the second round of the US Senate, at a polling place in Marietta, Georgia, USA, January 5, 2021.
Mike Segar | Reuters
Biden beat Georgia by 11,779 votes in November. NBC News did not disclose its victory over President Donald Trump in Peach State until three days after election day, while officials registered the ballots by mail.
More than 3 million Georgians voted before Tuesday, marking a historic high turnout for a runoff in the state. Second-round data and voters’ records suggest that Democrats had an advantage in going to the polls. Republicans expected a strong showing on Tuesday.
The average waiting time at polling stations fluctuated around one minute across the state until Tuesday, according to the office of Georgia’s secretary of state. Leading Republican electoral officer Gabriel Sterling said at a news conference on Tuesday afternoon that turnout for election day could range from 600,000 to 1.1 million voters. The exact numbers are difficult to predict before ballot counting.
Several districts will close after 19:00 Eastern Time due to delays earlier in the day. The latter is a polling station in Lowndes County, which will close at 8 pm Eastern Time, according to the Democratic Party of Georgia. Voters queuing before the polls close are legally allowed to vote.
The two second rounds in Georgia are the two most expensive Senate contests of all time, according to data compiled by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.
This story is developing. Please check again for updates.
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