As federal judges rule that once rejected ballots should be counted in Georgia’s election, several candidates are getting new votes.
Although the perception online and in the comments on 11Alive’s Facebook page is that these newly counted votes are only going to Democrats, that’s not the case.
For instance, in Georgia’s highly contested race for governor, both Republican Brian Kemp and Democrat Stacey Abrams are both gaining votes. Kemp's vote count is increasing as more ballots are admitted, but Abrams is getting most of them. That's why his lead is marginally shrinking.
On the morning of Nov. 7, the day after election day, Kemp had 1,956,844 votes. Now, he has 1,978,171. That's an increase of 21,327 votes.
In that same time period, Abrams went from 1,8771827 votes to 1,923,194. That's an increase of 45,367 votes.
A late-night ruling from a federal judge means even more ballots will be counted. Absentee ballots that were initially rejected in counties across the state because of birth date discrepancies will be added.
The Secretary of State cannot certify election results until “she has confirmed that each county’s returns include the counts for absentee ballots where the birth date was omitted or incorrect,” Judge Jones wrote in his order.
11Alive is following these developments closely to see where those votes land. Watch 11Alive at 5PM for the newest developments.