With paper-thin margin, metro counties count votes throughout night to determine president

ATLANTA — Click here for live updates for Friday Nov. 6 as the race remains too close to call in Georgia.

LIVE UPDATES THURSDAY NOV. 5

With a paper-thin margin between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden, all eyes are on Georgia in the race to determine who will be the next President of the United States.

The President delivered remarks from the White House Thursday night, claiming he won Georgia on election night but may now end up behind.

Channel 2 Action News has a team of reporters following the results throughout the night. Download the WSB Now app on your Roku, Amazon Fire or Apple TV to watch LIVE.

Georgia, Pennsylvania, Nevada, North Carolina, Arizona and Alaska races have not been called by ABC News.

People are also watching for results in the U.S Senate race between Sen. David Perdue and challenger Jon Ossoff, which appears to be headed to a runoff.

[ELECTION RESULTS: Live real-time Georgia 2020 General Election results]

LIVE UPDATES:

1:14 a.m.

Results are trickling in from Clayton County as workers continue counting absentee ballots.

12:31 a.m.

How will states handle a recount? Here’s a quick look:

10:59 p.m.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said that as of 10:35 p.m. there are approximately 14,097 ballots still outstanding.

• Clayton County: 4,355
• Cobb County: 700
• Floyd County: 444
• Forsyth County: 1,545
• Gwinnett County: 4,800
• Laurens County: 1,797
• Taylor County: 456

10:22 p.m.

President Trump’s lead has shrunk once again to just 1,775 votes over former Vice President Joe Biden after a new round of votes were counted from Forsyth County, according to ABC News.

Here’s where the vote stands statewide: Trump 49.4% (2,447,337 votes) Biden 49.4% (2,445,540 votes)

9:54 p.m.

Just 1,902 votes now separate Donald Trump and Joe Biden, after more votes were reported from Rockdale County.

9:01 p.m.

As of 8:58 p.m., only 2,497 votes separate Donald Trump (49.41%) and Joe Biden (49.36%) in Georgia.

8:41 p.m.

The Secretary of State’s Office says 16,105 absentee votes remain to be counted. The largest county still outstanding is Gwinnett with 4,800 ballots.

8:07 p.m.

Here is a look at other battleground states as of 8 p.m.

6:38 p.m.

The President now holds a slim lead of just 3,486 votes over Joe Biden. The most recent votes came from Chatham and Clayton counties. The President and former Vice President are virtually tied at 49.43% and 49.35% respectively.

6:50 p.m.

President Trump delivered remarks from the White House Thursday night, touting House and Senate victories and claiming Democrats are attempting to steal the election.

The President claimed he won Georgia on election night but may end up behind.

“The election apparatus in Georgia is run by Democrats,” Trump said.

The voting process in Georgia is led by Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who is a Republican.

Without evidence, Trump cited a pipe burst at State Farm Arena that paused ballot scanning on Election Day as skewing results.

6:11 p.m.

The Secretary of State says that as of 5:45 p.m., there are approximately 36,331 ballots outstanding in Georgia.

5:55 p.m.

President Trump will deliver remarks from the White House at 6:30 p.m. as votes continue to be counted in several battleground states.

5:15 p.m.

Fulton County officials said they are done processing absentee ballots and they are uploading into the state system. Provisional ballots will be processed starting tomorrow at 2 p.m.

5:01 p.m.

President Trump now leads Biden in Georgia with under 10,000 votes. Trump has 2439,678 votes to Biden’s 2,430,153.

4:54 p.m.

Channel 2 Anchor Jorge Estevez breaks down where Georgia’s remaining 50,000 ballots are from and how they could impact the outcome of the race.

4:44 p.m.

Donald Trump Jr. and Rep. Doug Collins and Rep. Vernon Jones will hold a news conference at the Georgia Republican headquarters at 6 p.m.

4:13 p.m.

Joe Biden addressed the nation from Delaware Thursday afternoon, urging Americans to be patient as states continue to tally votes.

“In America, the vote is sacred. It’s how the people of this nation express their will. It is the voters, not anyone else, who chooses the president of the United States of America. Each ballot must be counted, and that’s what we’re going to see,” Biden said. “I ask everyone to stay calm. The process is working. And we’ll know soon.”

Biden also said his campaign is still confident he will be declared the winner.

3:52 p.m.

Channel 2′s Justin Gray has learned that 8,899 military and overseas ballots in Georgia that have been requested are still not in. They are not required to be in until Friday.

2:45 p.m.

The total number of outstanding votes in Georgia is now 47,000, according to the Secretary of State.

The votes break down by county as follows:

Chatham 17,157

Clayton 6,026

Cobb 700

Floyd 682

Forsyth 4,713

Fulton 7,305

Gwinnett 4,800

Harris 3,641

Laurens 1,797

Taylor 456

2:36 p.m.

Pres. Trump’s lead over Biden has slipped to under 13,000 votes. Trump currently has 2,436,420. Biden has 2,423,595 votes, according to the Georgia Secretary of State’s official count.

1:53 p.m.

DeKalb County officials told Channel 2′s Justin Gray that they still have 1,600 provisional ballots and 601 cured ballots to process. Military ballots have until Friday to come in.

1 p.m.

The Secretary of State says that as of 12:45 p.m., approximately 50,401 ballots are still outstanding in Georgia.

12:57 p.m.

Fulton County election officials say they are officially done counting over 145,000 absentee ballots.

Of those, around 7,000 still need to be added to the official state-wide tally, according to Fulton County Election Director Richard Barron. Another 3,601 provisional ballots and 1,200 cured ballots will be processed tomorrow.

12:16 p.m.

Jon Ossoff’s campaign has released the following statement as the race with Sen. David Perdue could head to a runoff:

“The votes are still being counted, but we are confident that Jon Ossoff’s historic performance in Georgia has forced Senator David Perdue to continue defending his indefensible record of unemployment, disease, and corruption. When a runoff is called and held in January, Georgians are going to send Jon to the Senate to defend their health care and put the interests of working families and small businesses ahead of corporate lobbyists. Georgians are sick and tired of the endless failure, incompetence, and corruption of Senator Perdue and Donald Trump.”

11:19 a.m.

Sen. David Perdue’s campaign manager released the following statement as the race with Jon Ossoff could head to a runoff.

“There is one thing we know for sure: Senator David Perdue will be re-elected to the U.S. Senate and Republicans will defend the majority. Perdue will finish this election in first place with substantially more votes than his Democrat opponent. Currently, Perdue’s lead is double the margin of defeat that Stacey Abrams faced for Governor just two years ago. If overtime is required when all of the votes have been counted, we’re ready, and we will win. It is clear that more Georgians believe that David Perdue’s positive vision for the future direction of our country is better than Chuck Schumer’s radical, socialist agenda. There’s only one candidate in this race who has ever lost a runoff, and it isn’t David Perdue.”

11:16 a.m.

Chatham County Judge James Bass just dismissed President Trump’s lawsuit in Georgia. The suit, which surrounded controversy over 50 absentee ballots, argued that the county was not following correct procedure when it came to late ballots. After county officials provided evidence to prove all ballots were legitimate and late ballots were not being accepted, the suit was dismissed.

10:55 a.m.

10:44 a.m.

Gabriel Sterling, Georgia’s voting implementation manager, says the Chatham County votes should be available later today. Sterling says Chatham County process is split between the election and registrar offices but they should be past the hang up.

10:30 a.m.

Channel 2′s Justin Gray is live at the state Capitol for a news conference with the Secretary of State’s Office.

10:20 a.m.

A hearing has started in Savannah related to Trump campaign’s lawsuit on the handling of absentee ballots in Chatham County.

9:45 a.m.

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said that as of 9:15 a.m. today there are approximately 61,367 ballots still outstanding. Channel 2′s Justin Gray received the following breakdown:

• Bryan: 3,027
• Burke: 494
• Chatham: 17,157
• Clayton: 7,408
• Cobb: 700
• Floyd: 682
• Forsyth: 4,713
• Fulton: 11,200
• Gwinnett: 7,338
• Harris: 3,641
• Laurens: 1,797
• Putnam: 1,552
• Sumter: 1,202
• Taylor: 456
• Totals: 61,367

9:30 a.m.

Fulton County workers are heading into the final push of counting and scanning ballots.

9:29 a.m.

The adjudication panels have started looking at the outstanding ballots in Gwinnett County.

9:04 a.m.

Here is the latest information from Channel 2′s Chris Jose and Tony Thomas on the counts in Cobb County and Gwinnett County:

There are 1,882 ballots left to count in Cobb County. There are around 700 absentee ballots left to county Thursday. Around 800 provisional ballots will be counted Friday.

Gwinnett County still has around 10,000 ore more votes not in the state system.

8:37 a.m.

The Secretary of State’s Office is now saying there are 50,000-60,000 uncounted ballots remaining, more than the secretary initially thought early this morning:

7:11 a.m.

Fulton County reports they have 5,000 ballots still to be scanned.

6:59 a.m.

Fulton County expects to finish scanning ballots by 9 a.m. and then added to Georgia election total by noon.

6:31 a.m.

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger spoke exclusively with Channel 2 Action News This Morning. There are now under 25,000 ballots left to be counted and Raffensperger says the state should be done by noon today.

6:20 a.m.

The Georgia Secretary of State’s Office updated its numbers. As of 6:20 a.m., 18,540 votes now separate President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden.

Meanwhile in the U.S. Senate race, Sen. David Perdue is veering close to a runoff with 50.03% of the vote to Jon Ossoff’s 47.4%.

5:22 a.m.

5:00 a.m.

Channel 2 Action News reporters have been following the counts since Election Night Tuesday. Channel 2′s Steve Gehlbach is following Fulton County where officials report they have 7,500 ballots left to process.

Fulton County workers have been going at a pace of about 3,000 to 4,000 ballots per hour. The plan was originally to work until 3 a.m. and then send workers home.

However, the county decided to have them work straight through with the county getting close to the finish line.

“We want to finish before we go home. If that’s in the morning, that’s fine. Hopefully it won’t take that long but at the pace we’re going I think the sun’s going to rise before we finish," Fulton elections director Richard Barron said.

2:25 a.m.

Fulton County says about 13,000 ballots are left to count:

2:23 a.m.

12:46 a.m.

DeKalb County has finished its unofficial count of the ballots. The county processed 369,948 votes, in the following categories:

• Election Day: 47,553
• Advance Voting: 195,376
• Absentee by Mail: 127,019

12:17 a.m.

Fulton County to continue counting ballots throughout the night: