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Secretary of State certifies Georgia election results after bitterly fought races, ballot lawsuits

At least one metro Atlanta race still has a path forward to challenge the results, however.

ATLANTA -- One day after a fiery end to the gubernatorial election trail in Georgia, the acting Secretary of State has announced that she has certified the results of the Nov. 6 general election.

In a notice shared by the office of Secretary of State Robyn Crittenden, she announced that pursuant to state law and after the receipt of certified election results from all county election superintendents, "the Secretary of State has tabulated, computed, canvassed and certified the votes cast for all federal and state officers and questions voted for by voters of more than one county."

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The letter also acknowledges that 27 counties were required to conduct a second review of provisional ballots rejected because the voters did not appear on rolls when they cast those ballots.

"To comply with orders by U.S. District Judges Jones and May, all counties were required to count absentee by mail ballots where those ballots were previously rejected solely due to missing or inaccurate dates of birth," the statement read.

It also goes on to describe how a losing candidate may submit a written request for a recount within two business days of certification "if the difference in votes cast between the winning and losing candidates is not more than one percent of total votes cast in the race."

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At least one metro Atlanta candidate has announced plans to go this route meaning that race may not be over just yet. In the initial count, Carolyn Bordeaux trailed her opponent, Republican opponent Rob Woodall, by only 419 votes.

Bordeaux announced on Friday that she intends to request a recount in the tight 7th Congressional District race.

This also comes after a bitterly-fought governor's race that also neared the one percent requirement after numerous lawsuits led to the abovementioned federal mandates of vote recounts in various counties.

However, on Friday, Democratic candidate for Governor Stacey Abrams said she saw no path forward for her campaign. She refused to call the act a concession but admitted she was stepping out of the race.

The next day, Brian Kemp spoke to the media saying "it's time to leave the divisive politics of the past behind us and focus on Georgia's bright and promising future."

The immediate past secretary of state, Kemp said he would be ready to work with anyone that wants to change election law.

"But, in Georgia, we have those laws in place for a reason -- to make sure that we have secure, accessible, fair elections in our state," he said. "And we have done that."

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