Georgia Senate Democrats said they remain steadfast in making sure every vote is counted in the midterm and said they stand behind State Sen. Nikema Williams, who was arrested during a protest Tuesday at the state Capitol.
Representatives for Georgia Democratic candidate for governor Stacey Abrams released new vote totals that show the gubernatorial race is inching closer to a runoff.
Lauren Groh-Wargo said that more election day votes, mail-in and provisional ballots were reported late Tuesday night in several counties.
Abrams' camp reports that the state is now 17,759 ballots away from forcing the gubernatorial race into a runoff, and 15,445 votes away from triggering a recount.
"These numbers are extraordinarily small, considering over 4 million Georgians cast their vote in this election," Groh-Wargo said.
The Abrams campaign said it has received over 25,000 messages -- including phone calls, emails, texts and social media posts -- complaining about the Georgia voting process.
She also pointed to a large stack of papers on the table in front of her -- which represented individual voters and the discrepancies on the ballots from county to county.
Senator Nikema Williams speaks
The battle over ballots has especially affected Williams, who was arrested a day earlier.
During the press conference, Sen. Williams said the last 24 hours changed her life "dramatically."
She was among more than a dozen people who were arrested Tuesday night in the rotunda. The protesters demanded every vote to be counted in several tight races.
In a video provided to 11Alive News, at least one sign in the crowd read, "Stacey Abrams IS GOVERNOR" and another "COUNT EVERY VOTE" as protesters chanted "No justice, no peace."
"I woke up yesterday and went to the state session, not realizing that many of my constituents were there joining a peaceful protest. I joined them in the Capitol building and I never thought I would end up in jail," Williams said. "I didn't leave when I was asked to leave the Capitol, my place of work. I was taken out in handcuffs and jailed for 5 hours."
Williams said she is speaking to Governor Nathan Deal about putting protocols in place to make sure senators who join constituents in peaceful protest are protected from arrest.
"I don't regret standing with my constituents, I will never stand down from doing the right thing," Williams said. "I hope that Capitol Police will never do this to anyone else again."
Police took Williams and the others to the Fulton County jail where she later bonded out. She was greeted by a small crowd of supporters outside the jail late Tuesday.
"I joined them down on the floor and I was singled out as a black female senator, standing in the rotunda with constituents in the Capitol, in the body that I serve in," she said. "And I was singled out and arrested today for standing with so many Georgians who are demanding every vote be counted."
When asked whether police knew she was a state senator when she was arrested, Williams quipped, "I wear my name tag every day in the Capitol."
The protest at the state Capitol came as federal judges throughout Georgia ruled on several election-related lawsuits, including several filed in relation to the Georgia governor race.
The results of that election have yet to be officially decided, though Republican Brian Kemp has already declared himself the winner. Democrat Stacey Abrams, however, has yet to concede as she vows to make sure every vote cast in the election be counted.
