More than a week after election night, Emory students are still waiting to hear if their candidate of choice for Georgia governor won. Certified results for the unsettled Georgia gubernatorial race between Republican Brian Kemp and Democrat Stacey Abrams will not be available until Friday at the earliest, according to the Associated Press.
Unofficial results show Kemp leading Abrams by about 60,000 votes of more than 3.9 million cast, according to AP. Abrams needs 21,000 votes to trigger a runoff, which would be held on Dec. 4, AP reported.
Georgia law stipulates that a runoff must be held if no candidate receives at least 50 percent of the vote. A recount must be held if the margin of victory is less than one percent of the total vote.
Kemp declared victory last Wednesday, saying it was mathematically impossible for an Abrams victory, but the Abrams campaign refused to concede, stating that all provisional and absentee ballots have yet to be counted.
After the Abrams campaign filed lawsuits seeking to force election officials to count all ballots before certifying results, U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg ruled late Monday that state officials must ensure provisional ballots are not improperly rejected, and to not certify any final results until at least Friday, according to AP. Abrams has sought to enforce these rulings retroactively, including in counties which have already certified their ballots.
Throughout the campaign, Abrams repeatedly accused Kemp of abusing his power as secretary of state to suppress voter turnout and registration, especially for minorities. In response, Kemp accused the Democratic Party of Georgia of “cyber crimes” on Nov. 4, just two days before the election, without citing any evidence. Kemp resigned as secretary of state effective noon on Nov. 8 to transition to his role as governor.
Emory College Republicans Vice President Brad Bennett (22C) said he doesn’t believe either candidate’s claims of electoral misconduct.
“It’s all [a] spectacle,” Bennett said. “Voter suppression gets Democrats all riled up. Voter fraud gets Republicans all riled up. … I wouldn’t take too seriously any of those claims until the election is over.”
Young Democrats of Emory co-President Brett Kleiman (20C) said that while he did not oppose Kemp’s declaration of victory, he plans on waiting for all votes to be counted before making any judgments.
“Someone needs to start getting ready to be the next governor of Georgia,” Kleiman said. “That being said, I think it was a little too early [to declare victory] and not fair to the 33,000 ballots that have yet to be counted.”
Kleiman urged all students to call the Georgia voter protection hotline if they were unable to cast a ballot or had any issues voting.
“We’re going to let the adults decide this,” Kleiman said. “If people … want to find a way to help, we can put them in touch with people, but this is kind of out of our power to make a difference.”
Kleiman said Young Democrats members are prepared to wish Kemp the best if Abrams concedes but are also ready to resume canvassing in the event that uncounted provisional ballots force a runoff.
“We’ll wish [Kemp] the best as governor and we’re going to disagree with him when we think he’s doing something not good,” Kleiman said. “If it goes to a runoff, we’re ready to get right back into the grind and canvass for Stacey Abrams.”
Bennett said the controversy surrounding the certification of election results was evident of a larger problem with election infrastructure within the U.S.
“When it takes weeks and weeks to declare a winner in an election, you have an issue,” Bennett said. “I don’t view this as confined to the Kemp-Abrams race.”
Bennett said that he saw neither Kemp’s declaration of victory nor Abram’s refusals to concede as an issue.
“Kemp has started to put his transition team in place, you can’t fault him for that,” Bennett said. “At the same time Abrams is holding out, waiting for all the votes to be counted. No fault there either.”
Bennett said College Republicans will focus on engaging with the student body following the election, beginning with a possible victory celebration if the secretary of state certifies Kemp as Georgia’s next governor.
He added that College Republicans are working with the Young Democrats to host a political debate. College Republicans, which was recently revived this semester after a year of inactivity, is also planning to host guest speakers as well as sponsor a trip to a shooting range. Bennett would not rule out hosting Kemp as a guest speaker but emphasized that he did not want to attract too much controversy.
“Our goal is not just to see how many protesters we can get outside the Harland Cinema,” Bennett said.
David Ji (21C), who is not part of a student political group, said Kemp’s refusal to resign as secretary of state during the election was a conflict of interest because Kemp was responsible for overseeing his own election.
“If there were to be election fraud, he probably would not have done that much about it,” Ji said. “I feel like having that power should not be allowed.”
Ali Grijak (21C), who also is not part of a student political group, said Kemp’s victory would be especially concerning for minorities considering Kemp’s tenure as secretary of state, comparing his actions to “modern-day disenfranchisement.”
“He will be suppressing not only minority rights, but their voices, their incomes, their way of being,” Grijak said. “I believe that his election was a danger to minorities.”
Students Await Final Results in Gubernatorial Election
Courtesy of Brian Kemp and Stacey Abrams Campaigns
