Georgia Vote Count Continues as State Edges near Final Count

Atlanta's Fulton County on Saturday began rescanning some votes first counted Friday.

The county had discovered "an issue," according to a Facebook post from Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. A county spokesperson did not immediately respond to a text message seeking more information.

Raffensperger posted:

"Fulton County has discovered an issue involving reporting from their work on Friday. Officials are at State Farm Arena to rescan their work from Friday. The Secretary of State has a monitor onsite, has sent additional investigators, and dispatched the Deputy Secretary of State as well to oversee the process to make sure to thoroughly secure the vote and protect all legal votes. Observers from both political parties are there as well."

A tweet from the Republican election official echoed the Facebook statement.

Neither Facebook nor Twitter has tagged, censored, blocked, or covered the post, as social media companies have been wont to do with President Donald Trump and his associates' claims of similar "issues" with ballots, the counting, and "meaningful" monitoring of them.

As partisans celebrated and protested Democrat Joe Biden's victory Saturday, some Georgia counties inched toward a final count of ballots in the state elections.

Biden continued to narrowly lead President Donald Trump in the contest for Georgia's 16 electoral votes after edging ahead early Friday as mail ballots were counted. The Associated Press declared Biden the nationwide winner Saturday, but has not called a winner in Georgia.

At the state Capitol, hundreds of Trump supporters rallied to allege the election has been stolen from their candidate. They chanted "Four more years!" as flag-bearing trucks circled and congresswoman-elect Marjorie Taylor Greene spoke.

"I will not stop fighting for President Trump, I support him 100%," Greene said.

Trump has called Greene a "future Republican star."

Greene repeated comments Saturday other Republicans were not doing enough to stand up for Trump and claimed Biden's lead in Georgia is illegitimate.

"This is not a blue state," Greene said. "It is my opinion that they are stealing this election."

Many of those who were attending the rally echoed Greene's concerns about fraud. But some said they remain open to accepting Biden as the legitimate president.

Jordan Kelley, a 29-year-old, drove to the demonstration from Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Kelley, who describes himself as an "avid Republican," said he could accept the Democrat if he believes Biden's victory is legitimate.

"If Biden actually does win the election, I'll support and honor his presidency," Kelley said.

Jill Tanner, a 50-year-old Atlanta resident who supports Trump's immigration policies, said if Biden becomes president she will "get up and go to work and live the American dream."

"If Biden is in fact declared president, I don't plan to riot or do anything," Tanner said. "For me, it would just be like any other day."

State officials did not have an updated count Saturday of how many provisional or military ballots are outstanding, said Walter Jones, a spokesman for Raffensperger. The Republican has said he expects a candidate will request a recount of Georgia's ballots, as candidates can do when they are less than 0.5% behind after all ballots are counted. The state had already made plans to audit one of the statewide races to ensure that the new voting machines have produced an accurate count.

Friday was the deadline for voters to fix problems with flawed absentee or provisional ballots, as well as the deadline for ballots to arrive from overseas. By Saturday, 37 of Georgia's 159 counties had submitted certified, final results.

There is more voting yet to come in Georgia with two U.S. Senate runoffs set for Jan. 5. Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., and Democrat Jon Ossoff meet again for Perdue's Senate seat after Libertarian candidate Shane Hazel won enough votes so neither Perdue nor Ossoff could clear the 50% threshold needed for victory.

Democrat Rev. Raphael Warnock faces Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., in a second runoff trying to win the remaining two years of another Senate term. GOP Gov. Brian Kemp appointed Loeffler to succeed retiring Republican Johnny Isakson earlier this year.

The Associated Presst contributed to this report.