Abrams Files New Lawsuit in Georgia; Hopes to Force Runoff

Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams has filed a new lawsuit as she continues to try to force a runoff in the too-close-to-call election which has made national news. 

In the lawsuit, filed Sunday, Abrams is trying to stop two counties from rejecting absentee ballots and provisional with minor mistakes, according to The Washington Post.

Although Abrams has not yet conceded the election, her opponent, Republican Brian Kemp has already declared that he is the winner.

Kemp’s lead is currently fewer than 59,000 votes with 100 percent of precincts reporting. The Abrams campaign still maintains, however, that there is a sufficient number of uncounted ballots to force a runoff election.

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In her lawsuit Abrams is also asking Georgia election officials to count provisional ballots from voters who have changed addresses but not updated their voter registration. She is also asking for an extended deadline for the submission of final vote counts to give them more time to certify the election results.

Abrams’s campaign manager Lauren Groh-Wargo told reporters Sunday that the campaign does not have confidence in the secretary of state’s office, according to The Post.

“The bottom line is this race is not over,” Groh-Wargo said. “It is still too close to call.”

In addition to declaring victory, Kemp also resigned from his post as Georgia’s secretary of state last week. This shows that he is moving forward with his transition plans even though Abrams has refused to concede.

Ryan Mahoney, Kemp’s campaign manager, criticized Abrams’s efforts in a statement on Saturday.

“Stacey Abrams’ antics are a disgrace to democracy and completely ignore the will of the people,” Mahoney said. “This is not how America works.”

Kemp’s lead has been reduced since Tuesday’s election, but is still above the 50 percent required for him to claim an outright win. As of Sunday, the secretary of state’s website showed Kemp with 50.3 percent to Abrams’s 48.8 percent. His lead is less than 59,000 votes out of more than 3.9 million cast.

An additional 5,000 votes were added to the tally over the weekend, and the majority were for Abrams. This is why she is urging that county and state officials slow down the process  to make sure that all ballots are collected and counted.

Her campaign said Abrams would need more than 21,700 additional votes to force a runoff or more than 19,300 to force a recount.  Georgia’s 159 counties have until Tuesday to certify the results. Abrams’s suit seeks to extend that deadline to Wednesday.

Although the prospects of Abrams winning do not look very good, she should continue to fight to the bitter end. Kemp has been using well-documented voter suppression techniques to hurt Abrams, and she should not give in to such tactics. She does still have a chance to win, and what she is doing is completely appropriate in a democracy where every person’s vote should be counted.

Leo Vidal

I am a lifelong Democrat with a passion for social justice and progressive issues. I have degrees in writing, economics and law from the University of Iowa.