Georgian military voters seen as pivotal bloc in second round that will decide Senate control

The old mantra that every vote counts cannot ring truer anywhere than in the state of Georgia, where overseas and military votes could end up determining control of the US Senate and the fate of the president’s agenda. Democrat-elect Joe Biden.

Given that none of Georgia’s Republican senators captured the more than 50% majority of the ballots on election day earlier this month, the races in which voters will determine whether Republicans Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue will continue to serve have been extended until the January second round.

“If Biden becomes president, he won’t be able to do much without the control of the Senate and such a close House on top of that,” Carsten Pfau, economist and political strategist, told Fox News.

The integrity of the election may prove to be just as important as the outcome following President Trump’s still unsubstantiated allegations of electoral fraud that were nevertheless accepted by large sections of his Republican base.

“All eyes will be on Georgia’s second round of clean elections,” Pfau said. Many of Trump’s complaints centered on mail-in ballots that skewed Democrats and were only counted after in-person votes that initially gave the incumbent the appearance of substantial leads.

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In Georgia, according to data provided by the US Vote Foundation and Overseas Vote, more than 26,000 overseas and military ballots have been requested for this year’s general election – a number that far exceeds the margin of victory – which means that the voting block is crucial.

“Preliminary data shows that just over 18,000 of the 26,428 foreign and military voters who received ballots returned them,” said Susan Dzieduszycka-Suinat, president and CEO of the US Vote Foundation.

“While we cannot say that this is inconsistent with other data, it deserves further consideration,” she added. “If these GA voters asked for their ballots, why didn’t they return them? We suspect that many have requested to receive their ballots online, which is possible for foreign and military voters. It’s a time advantage that it takes, but the downside is that these voters probably don’t realize that they have to be prepared to print and return those ballots by mail or express mail.

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Confusion about this logistics during the Senate second round can have a significant impact. Democrats must secure both seats to achieve a 50-50 tie in the Senate, which would leave Vice President-elect Kamala Harris able to vote for a tiebreaker, giving her party effective control.

Preliminary data from Georgia’s secretary of state showed that the 28 counties in the state – out of a total of 159 – that submitted at least 100 overseas and military ballots had military bases or were nearby. .

In the second round, the ballots are automatically sent to foreign or military voters who requested them during the general elections in November.

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David Beirne, director of the Federal Voting Assistance Program, pointed out that a member of the service can also request a postcard request through the agency’s website.

Meanwhile, Democrats and Republicans are devoting sufficient human and financial resources to the second round, engaging voters and urging their bases in the state of 10.6 million people not to succumb to voter fatigue.

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The last time Republicans lost a Senate race in Georgia was two decades ago, but with demographic shifts, especially in growing urban areas, political experts speculate that the vote may tip into a one way or the other.

“This election saw an increase in the participation of foreign and military voters in Georgai, exactly what we predicted based on the use of our website,” Dzieduszycka-Suinat added. “I predict that a new record for overseas and military polls in a second round, and possibly any election in Georgia, is about to be set.