Georgia voters are picking their U.S. senators on Tuesday.
This election will determine which party controls the senate. However, if it splits tonight, the control would go to the democrats since Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will be the tie-breaking vote.
The control of the Senate is the top priority for voters:
The national implications of Georgia’s Senate elections were not lost on the state’s voters: One survey found that, almost universally, voters in Tuesday’s runoffs thought about what their decision would mean for which party controls the Senate.In preliminary results from AP VoteCast, a large survey of runoff voters, some 94% of voters said control of the Senate was an important consideration in their choice of candidate, including 60% who called it the single most important factor.Four percent called it a minor factor, and 3 percent said it wasn’t a factor at all.
Georgia counties have a deadline of January 15 to certify results. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has until January 22 to certify the statewide results.
The polls closed at 7 p.m. ET and vote counting started:
The vote counting began Tuesday night, but the final result may not be known for days, a state election official said, given the large number of mail-in ballots. In November, final results took weeks to be certified. With spending exceeding $500 million, the races are among the most expensive Senate contests in history.More than three million votes had already been cast before Tuesday, underscoring the high interest in the two races. Given that attention, the number of people at polling places was said to be relatively light early on Tuesday, in a state where lines at polling stations during high-interest elections have been common.In Dekalb County, home to a large chunk of Atlanta, a Democratic stronghold, Election-Day voting surpassed the turnout on Nov. 3 Election Day, county officials said. In the afternoon, voting picked up in several Republican strongholds, including Cherokee County.Republican strategists working on the runoffs say that if more than a million voters turn out on Election Day, they feel very good about their candidates’ chances.
(KK — 12:32 AM ET)
(KK — 2:04 AM ET)
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY