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Brian Kemp oversaw the elections, including his own race for governor, as secretary of state. But his record is marked by controversy and litigation.
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In the archival photo of this Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2018, Democrat Democratic Democrat Governor for Georgia Stacey Abrams, on the left, speaking under the eyes of her Republican opponent, the secretary of the Senate. State Brian Kemp, during a debate in Atlanta.(Photo: John Bazemore, AP)

ATLANTA – Supporters of Democratic Democrat Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams were hoping on Wednesday that thousands of postal and provisional ballots from Tuesday's election contained enough votes to force Republican Brian Kemp to proceed to a second round.

Analysts said Wednesday that such a result was possible, but unlikely. Kemp said that he was confident that he would eventually take it away.

Kemp holds a two-point lead over Abrams with all riding reports. The hope of Abrams was to narrow the gap by about 15,000 votes, enough to prevent Kemp from winning an absolute majority and forcing a second round on Dec. 4.

The head of the Abrams campaign, Lauren Groh-Wargo, said supporters were looking for these votes in several places.

Groh-Wargo said that there were still 14,000 postal ballots. She said that the election campaign had garnered thousands of votes during provisional votes and that voters had experienced technical problems during the polls.

The Georgian State Secretary issued a statement Wednesday afternoon stating that fewer than 3,000 "non-provisional" ballots were pending.

The counties of Clarke, Fulton, Hall and Gwinnett have completed their postal ballot tabulations today. Cobb and Chatham also had to finish their accounts by the end of the day.

According to the release, county officials reported fewer than 22,000 interim votes cast throughout the state.

The provisional ballots must be checked by Friday. All counties in Georgia are required to certify their election results by 5 pm Tuesday.

Returning observers reported problems and irregularities on several sites. A Fulton County judge ordered the hours of certain polls to be extended on Tuesday to give voters who could have been affected more opportunities to vote.

Groh-Wargo said that there was confusion in DeKalb County about how to count the provisional votes as they had not been compiled in previous elections.

And she added that Hurricane Michael, who caused mail redirection back to Dougherty County via Tallahassee, Florida, could have delayed some mail ballots.

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Craig Albert, a political scientist at the University of Augusta, said the odds that the ballots will narrow the gap are slim.

"I think it's mathematically possible," he said. "But it does not seem likely that this will happen. Everything should be perfect for this to happen now. "

Groh-Wargo said Abrams will not concede the race before every vote is counted.

"We believe that Georgian voters deserve to count these votes," Groh-Wargo told reporters on Wednesday.

Kemp did not declare victory. But he told supporters early Wednesday that he was confident that he would eventually win.

"There are still votes to be counted, but we have a very strong lead," he told his supporters during his election night. "And people, make no mistake, calculation is on our side to win this election."

In one of the country's most prominent governorship elections this year, candidates vie for the successor to Republican governor Nathan Deal. Deal has reached its limit of two terms.

Abrams, 44, a former minority head of the State House, is trying to become the first democratic governor elected in Georgia for 20 years and the first black female governor of the country.

Kemp, 55, secretary of the Georgian state, is trying to keep the office in the hands of Republicans.

Elections showing a tight race in the days leading up to the elections, President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence came to Georgia to join Kemp. Former President Barack Obama and Oprah Winfrey appeared for Abrams.

Albert said that Abrams was smart to stay in the race at the moment. Regardless of the end result, his performance exceeded expectations.

He described as "remarkable" voter turnout this year for the mid-term elections.

The Abrams campaign released Wednesday data indicating that 3.9 million voters voted in the polls to the governorship. This represented 56% more than the 2.5 million people who voted in 2014.

As Secretary of State, Kemp is the highest election official in Georgia.

Abrams and his supporters have accused Kemp and other Republicans of trying to suppress the Democratic vote.

Kemp's office announced Sunday a Democratic Party investigation into alleged hacking of the voter registration system.

Both parties condemned a racist fund-raising appeal against Abrams and Winfrey.

A group of Georgian voters filed suit in the US District Court in Atlanta on Tuesday to prevent Kemp from presiding over the elections.

Groh-Wargo said the fight for the votes could last until the elections are certified in each county.

This usually happens on Monday after an election. But we did not know if it would be delayed on Monday by Veterans Day.

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