ATLANTA — Georgia takes one step closer to sending projected winners Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff to the Senate today, as the deadline passes for the last smattering of votes to be counted.
Those include military and overseas ballots, which can arrive by the end of day as long as they were postmarked by Election Day. Those who cast provisional ballots also have until the end of the day to "cure" them - fix whatever issue it is that made it necessary for them to use a provisional ballot - and make sure they count.
Once the deadline passes, it paves the way for counties to certify their results. And when they finish, the state may certify the total results and send Warnock and Ossoff to the Senate - provided no wild swings in Ossoff's race with Republican incumbent Sen. David Perdue, who remains within about 0.8%.
The cutoff for Perdue to be able to request a recount is 0.5%.
The deadlines today come as the 2020 election finally appears to be winding down in Georgia, more than two months since Nov. 3.
Yesterday President Donald Trump appeared to effectively concede in a video message posted to Twitter, acknowledging a "new administration will be inaugurated on January 20."
And Sen. Kelly Loeffler conceded explicitly in her own video message, saying she called Warnock to "congratulate him and wish him well in serving this great state."
All this, coming amid the continuing fallout and response to the extraordinary scenes at the U.S. Capitol this week.
11Alive will be tracking updates as they come in throughout Friday. Please note all times are Eastern.
5:10 p.m. | Gov. Brian Kemp has congratulated Jon Ossoff on his Senate runoff win. It came just hours after Republican David Perdue conceded to the Democrat.
In the series of tweets, Kemp also thanked Perdue for his service in the US Senate and vowed to work with Ossoff and the incoming Biden Administration "to serve the people of our state and put hardworking Georgians first."
2:45 p.m. | David Perdue has conceded the Senate race against Jon Ossoff. He issued this statement:
"Bonnie and I are deeply grateful for the support millions of Georgians have shown us this year and in the six years since we first ran for the United States Senate. Serving our home state has been the honor of a lifetime, and I am very proud of how our team in Georgia and Washington, D.C. fought every day to deliver real results for all eleven million Georgians.
"Although we won the general election, we came up just short of Georgia’s 50% rule, and now I want to congratulate the Democratic Party and my opponent for this runoff win. Bonnie and I will continue to pray for our wonderful state and our great country. May God continue to bless Georgia and the United States of America."
11:20 a.m. | Rep. Carolyn Bourdeaux has issued a statement on the death of the Capitol Police officer:
"My deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, who lost his life in the line of duty during an armed insurrection attempt on our Capitol. I'm grateful for the law enforcement that demonstrated tremendous courage to protect my staff, me, and the others who work in this building."
11:00 a.m. | President Trump says he will not attend Joe Biden's inauguration.
10:20 a.m. | Trump v. Kemp, the election lawsuit filed on New Year's Eve by the president's team against Georgia's results, has officially been withdrawn and terminated, according to court records.
The Trump team is reportedly winding down and withdrawing three other suits, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced yesterday.
7:30 a.m. | Good morning! As noted above, there's quite a lot less drama in Georgia's election results this time than in November, but we still have to finish going through the process of confirming them.
These are the general deadlines we're still looking at:
- Today: Deadline for military and overseas ballots to come in, as well as for voters who had to use provisional ballots to fix their issue (a process known as "curing" their ballot).
- Jan. 15: Deadline for counties to certify their results.
- Jan. 22: Deadline for state to certify its results.
Note that these are only deadlines - Georgia's 159 counties could finish certifying before next Friday, and the state would almost certainly not wait a whole week after that to certify the full results.