Candidates address supporters as Georgia remains too close to call in presidential race

ATLANTA — Click here for live election updates for Wednesday Nov. 5 as the ballot counting continues

ELECTION DAY UPDATES:

Election Day is here and the polls across Georgia are now closed. Channel 2 Action News has reporters scattered across metro Atlanta to follow voting and any issues that may come up throughout the day.

Most of the polls closed at 7 p.m. after a record-shattering number of Georgians voted early or dropped off their absentee ballots ahead of Election Day.

We’ll have LIVE coverage throughout the night on voting and election results -- Stay with Channel 2 Action News

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LIVE UPDATES:

2:45 a.m.

Carolyn Bourdeaux sends statement declaring victory in Georgia’s 7th Congressional District:

"Three years ago, I stepped up to take on a four-term incumbent. They said this district could never be won by a Democrat, but we knew better. Together, we put this race on the map. And today, we finished the job.

“I got into this race because I believe all Georgians deserve affordable, quality health care, and because we need to get control of COVID-19 to get our children back in school and our economy back on track. It is the honor of a lifetime to be your Congresswoman-elect, and I will carry your stories and experiences with me every day as we work together to build a brighter future for our children.”

2:26 a.m.

President Donald Trump spoke to a crowd at the White House early Wednesday saying that he intends to take the election to the U.S. Supreme Court. Trump also claimed to win Georgia, although the race is too close to call.

“It’s also clear that we have won Georgia. We’re up by 2.5% or 117,000 votes with only 7% left. They’re never gonna catch us. They can’t catch us. Likewise, we’ve clearly won North Carolina. Where we’re up 1.4% or 77,000 votes, with only approximately 5% left -- they can’t catch us.”

1:40 a.m.

Democrat Lucy McBath wins reelection to U.S. House in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District.

1:15 a.m.

After issues in Fulton and Gwinnett counties tonight, Deputy Secretary of State Jordan Fuchs tells ABC News that Georgia’s two biggest counties, Fulton and Gwinnett, will not report final results tonight.

“They could shock all of us, but I really doubt it,” Fuchs said.

12:54 a.m.

Voters in Glynn County have voted out District Attorney Jackie Johnson, who was at the center of the Ahmaud Arbery investigation:

12:44 a.m.

Former Vice President Joe Biden delivered remarks at his campaign headquarters.

“We are going to have to be patient,” Biden said. “It ain’t over until every ballot is counted.”

“We’re still in the game for Georgia … and, by the way, we are going to win Pennsylvania.”

12:25 a.m.

Channel 2 investigative reporter Justin Gray says Secretary of State’s Office confirmed ballots are still being scanned in Fulton County:

12:17 a.m.

Democrat Nikema Williams wins election to U.S. House in Georgia’s 5th Congressional District.

10:39 p.m.

Rep. Doug Collins congratulates Sen. Kelly Loeffler on making the runoff.

10:08 p.m.

Gwinnett County says as many as 80,000 ballots will not be processed properly tonight.

Those marked as having an error will be looked at starting tomorrow.

9:57 p.m.

Republican Buddy Carter wins reelection to U.S. House in Georgia’s 1st Congressional District.

9:48 p.m.

Democrat Sanford Bishop wins reelection to U.S. House in Georgia’s 2nd Congressional District.

9:33 p.m.

Republican Drew Ferguson wins reelection to U.S. House in Georgia’s 3rd Congressional District.

9:23 p.m.

Republican Jody Hice wins reelection to U.S. House in Georgia’s 10th Congressional District.

9:04 p.m.

Donald Trump wins Nebraska, Louisiana, Wyoming, South Dakota, North Dakota.

Joe Biden wins New Mexico, New York.

8:58 p.m.

ABC News projects Marjorie Taylor Greene has won Georgia’s 14th District race:

8:34 p.m.

Here is a statement from Fulton County about the pipe burst at State Farm Arena:

"At approximately 6:07 a.m., the staff at State Farm Arena notified Fulton County Registration & Elections of a water leak affecting the room where absentee ballots were being tabulated. The State Farm Arena team acted swiftly to remediate the issue. Within 2 hours, repairs were complete. No ballots were damaged, nor was any equipment affected. There was a brief delay in tabulating absentee ballots while the repairs were being conducted.

"Tonight Fulton County will report results for approximately 86,000 absentee ballots, as well as Election Day and Early Voting results. These represent the vast majority of ballots cast within Fulton County.

"As planned, Fulton County will continue to tabulate the remainder of absentee ballots over the next two days. Absentee ballot processing requires that each ballots is opened, signatures verified, and ballots scanned. This is a labor intensive process that takes longer to tabulate than other forms of voting. Fulton County did not anticipate having all absentee ballots processed on Election Day.

“Fulton County is committed to ensuring that every vote is counted and will comply with all applicable laws and regulations.”

8:13 p.m.

Here are the list of projections from the Associated Press:

Joe Biden wins Rhode Island, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maryland, Delaware, Illinois, Connecticut, Vermont.

Donald Trump wins Oklahoma, Tennessee, Alabama, South Carolina, West Virginia, Kentucky, Arkansas.

7:42 p.m.

Channel 2′s Justin Gray confirmed a pipe burst at State Farm Arena may caused a delay in vote counting.

7 p.m.

Most polling locations across Georgia are now closed.

6:54 p.m.

Here is a list of several polling locations that will remain open late:

Ponce de Leon Library location until 7:20 p.m. because of technical issues this morning
Houston County Annex Building, 200 Carl Vinson Parkway, Warner Robins, 31088 (Houston County), extended to 7:40 p.m.
Valley Brook Precinct, Valley Brook Baptist Church, 1198 N Valley Brook Rod, Decatur, 30033 (Dekalb County), extended to 7:40 p.m.
Gresham Road Precinct, Obama Elementary School, 3132 Clifton Church Road SE, Atlanta 30316 (Dekalb County), extended to 7:45 p.m.
Spalding County (all 18 precincts), extended to 9 p.m.
Sope Creek Precinct, Sope Creek Elementary, 3320 Paper Mill Rd SE, Marietta, 30067 (Cobb County), extended to 7:20 p.m.
Allen Temple AME, 232 Arnold Mill Rd, Woodstock, 30188 (Cherokee County), extended to 7:12 p.m.
Canton City Hall, 110 Academy St, Canton, 30114 (Cherokee County), extended to 7:15 p.m.
Ferguson Elementary School, 1755 Centerview Dr NW, Duluth, 30096 (Gwinnett County), extended to 7:20 p.m.

6:23 p.m.

U.S. Postal Service says is could not make deadline to sweep sorting facilities:

The U.S. Postal Service responded to Judge Sullivan’s order late Tuesday, noting that while it was not able to comply with the court-imposed deadline of 4:30 PM ET, its inspectors would complete “sweeps” of mail facilities in the key battleground states by the times polls closed.

A Justice Department lawyer representing the mail agency explained that, due to other Election Day responsibilities and logistical concerns, the Postal Service was “unable to accelerate the daily review process” to comply with Judge Sullivan’s order – but that “the process remains ongoing.”

“[The Postal Service] is working as expeditiously as possible to comply with this court’s orders while recognizing physical and operational limitations and the need to avoid disrupting key activities on Election Day,” the DOJ lawyer wrote.

Shortly after the Postal Service response, the NAACP requested an emergency hearing, claiming that the Postal Service response “does not comply to the court’s order.”

6:02 p.m.

Gwinnett County says polling precinct 72, Ferguson Elementary School, will remain open until 7:20 p.m.

5:49 p.m.

A judge has ordered that polls stay open until 9 p.m. in Spalding County.

4:43 p.m.

Morgan County says it will not extend any hours at polling locations following issues this morning.

“Morgan County poll workers did a great job of quickly moving to emergency backup procedures so that voters were able to continue voting. We appreciate the voters' patience as lines were a little longer than normal for Morgan County,” the county said in a news release. “Any voter in line at 7:00pm will be allowed to vote.”

3:59 p.m.

Cobb County says it will keep the Sope Creek polling location open for an additional 20 minutes tonight:

2:50 p.m.

A judge signed an order that extends voting hours at two locations in DeKalb County after they opened late this morning.

The Valley Brook precinct, located at Valley Brook Baptist Church, 1198 N. Valley Brook Road, Decatur, 30033, will stay open until 7:40 p.m. The Gresham Road precinct, located at Obama Elementary School, 3132 Clifton Church Road SE, Atlanta, 30316, will remain open until 7:45 p.m.

1:47 p.m.

A federal judge has ordered the U.S. Postal Service to send inspectors to several processing facilities in key battleground states to ensure that no mail-in ballot is left behind. Atlanta is among the list of locations, according to ABC News.

U.S. Judge Emmet Sullivan ruled Tuesday that the Postal Service must “sweep the facilities between 12:30 PM EST and 3:00 PM EST to ensure that no ballots have been held up and that any identified ballots are immediately sent out for delivery.” Additionally, those inspectors are ordered to report back to the court by 4:30 PM ET “confirming, in the most efficient manner available, that sweeps were conducted and that no ballots were left behind,” Sullivan wrote.

1:33 p.m.

Channel 2′s Audrey Washington is speaking with voters at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church. The DeKalb County megachurch is one of the largest polling places in the state.

1:32 p.m.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp dropped off his absentee ballot Tuesday afternoon. Kemp usually votes in person but the governor and first lady have been in quarantine after coming into contact who tested positive for COVID-19.

Both Kemps have tested negative for COVID-19, according to the governor’s office.

1:25 p.m.

Georgia’s Voting Implementation Manager Gabriel Sterling said two counties had issues with the operational level, Spalding and Morgan. Sterling said voting did not stop despite the problems with voter access cards.

Officials had to do hard resets at 8 of the 18 polling places in Spalding and 4 of 7 in Morgan County. The backup procedures were used in Morgan County.

1:20 p.m.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger gave an update on how voting has gone across the state on Georgia. Many polling places are seeing short wait times.

“It has never been easier to vote in Georgia. Average wait time is about 3 minutes. That is an outstanding accomplishment of our team," he said.

1:20 p.m.

12:49 p.m.

Power outages have been reported at three voting sites in Gwinnett: Ferguson Elementary, Corley Elementary and Sweetwater Middle. Officials told Channel 2 Gwinnett County Bureau Chief Tony Thomas that a transformer blew in the area.

Ferguson evacuated the building and voting stopped for almost an hour. Corley and Sweetwater were able to go onto the backup and continue. It’s unclear if voting will be extended at Ferguson at this time.

12:16 p.m.

C.T Martin Natatorium and Recreation Center is usually packed on any other Election Day. But the Fulton precinct this year hasn’t seen many lines.

11:45 a.m.:

While the Secretary of State’s Office says Spalding should be back up and running, a poll manager told Channel 2′s Kristen Holloway they still don’t have access to the voting machines. The manager at the Flynt Building on Experiment Street in Griffin said they won’t have access unless a technician comes to fix the problem.

The Secretary of state’s office says this was a human error on the part of Spalding elections. They also told Channel 2 before poll workers issued paper ballots, they are given codes and they are trained on how to use those codes to access the machines.

Holloway reached out to Spalding election officials and is waiting to hear back.

11:05 a.m.

The Georgia Secretary of State’s Office says the Spalding County voting glitch has been fixed.

10:23 a.m.

Fulton County elections officials say it was a contractor that backed out of an order that caused some issues at 30 polling locations.

10:07 a.m.

The Atlanta Falcons tweeted urging Georgians to go out and vote:

9:46 a.m.:

Georgia’s Secretary of State’s office says there’s an average of 4 minute wait at polling locations in Georgia.

9:09 a.m.

News organizations are gathering at a polling site in southwest Atlanta.

8:40 a.m.:

Voters are reporting issues with the machines at the Morris Brown Elementary School location in northwest Atlanta.

8:20 a.m.:

Channel 2′s Mike Petchenik says the many voting places are reporting very little wait times.

7:52 a.m.:

An election official in Spalding County says they are experiencing a glitch this morning and all voting machines are down. The official wants voters to be patient and know that they will be able to vote. They are sending 2,000 provisional ballots to each precinct so everyone can post a paper ballot. They have no plans to stay open late unless court ordered but every person will get an opportunity to vote.

READ MORE HERE

7:22 a.m.:

Gov. Brian Kemp tells WSB Radio says he received his absentee ballot Monday and will be dropping it off today.

7:15 a.m.:

Voters are urged to double check their voting location before heading to the polls.

7 a.m.: Polls are now open in Georgia.

6:55 a.m. Election Day is here in Georgia.

6:36 a.m.: Chilly weather for voters waiting in line.

6:01 a.m.: Voters already arriving at a precinct in southwest Atlanta ahead of the location opening at 7 a.m.

The latest exclusive poll conducted for WSB-TV by Landmark Communications shows President Trump has widened his lead over Joe Biden but it could be an extremely tight race.

The poll of 500 likely Georgia voters took place on Sunday and has a margin of error of 4.4%.

President Donald Trump received about 50.1% of the vote while former Vice President Joe Biden received 46.0% of the vote in the poll. A previous poll on Oct. 28 had the president ahead by just one point.

Channel 2 Action News will have live streaming election coverage starting at 7 p.m. as results come in. Download the WSB Now app on your Roku, Amazon Fire or Apple TV to watch LIVE.

GEORGIA VOTER GUIDE: