ATLANTA – Democratic U.S. Senate candidates Jon Ossoff and Sarah Riggs Amico demanded Wednesday that every vote be counted a day after a primary election marred by confusion over new voting machines and poorly trained poll workers.
With about 81% of the vote counted by Wednesday afternoon, Ossoff, an investigative journalist, held a big lead with 49% of the vote, according to unofficial results posted by Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office.
But that wasn’t enough to avoid a potential runoff in August with former Columbus Mayor Teresa Tomlinson, who was in second with 14%, or possibly Amico, a businesswoman, in third place with 13% of the vote.
In Georgia, candidates in a primary must receive 50%-plus-one of the votes to avoid a runoff against the second-place finisher, which in this case still could be either Tomlinson or Amico.
In an afternoon news conference Wednesday, Ossoff pointed to more than a quarter million ballots still to be counted, including absentee and provisional votes, in addition to absentee ballots that weren’t cast at all because the recipients never received them from the secretary of state’s office or got them too late to return them in time.
Ossoff said some voters waited up to six hours in line to vote, while some didn’t get to vote at all because of the delays.
“What happened yesterday was an outrage by any standards,” he said. “It was a comprehensive failure by state and county [elections] officials.”
“Protecting the right of every eligible voter to cast their ballot and have it accurately counted is a sacred duty for those who serve in elected office,” Amico added. “The secretary of state must assure Georgians he is committed to counting every ballot fairly cast in the primary election, including provisional and absentee ballots, and take active steps to fix this system immediately.”
Whoever emerges from the Democratic primary with the nomination will challenge Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., in November.
It wasn’t just Democrats complaining about how primary Election Day was handed in Georgia.
On Tuesday, Georgia Republican House Speaker David Ralston ordered a lawmaker-led investigation into the “unacceptable deficiencies” of the primary.
In light of the number of votes remaining to be counted, Amico cautioned candidates not to claim victory based on partial results.
Ossoff agreed, declining to discuss the results to reporters.
“It’s far too early to talk about outcomes,” he said. “When we’re satisfied all the votes have been counted, we can talk about the next step.”
But Tomlinson wasn’t reticent to declare her candidacy in the Aug. 11 runoff against Ossoff, despite her narrow advantage over Amico at this point and the possibility Ossoff could win the primary outright if he climbs above 50%.
Now that most [of the votes] have been counted, it appears that for the third time in his political career, Jon Ossoff has failed to break the 50% needed to avoid a runoff,” Tomlinson said in a prepared statement.
“Now that it is a two-person race, we are looking forward to voters learning more about my record as a successful two-term mayor and public safety director who has won elections and governed and governed well.”
Amico wasn’t the only third-place Democrat not ready to concede on Wednesday.
Nabilah Islam, seeking Georgia’s Gwinnett County-based 7th Congressional District seat, noted there are still about 30,000 outstanding absentee and provisional ballots yet to be counted.
According to the numbers posted by Raffensperger’s office Wednesday afternoon, Islam was about a point and a half behind the second-place candidate, state Rep. Brenda Lopez Romero of Norcross.
College professor Carolyn Bourdeaux, who narrowly lost the 7th District race two years ago to retiring Republican Rep. Rob Woodall, is in first place but without the majority of votes needed to avoid a runoff.
“Yesterday’s election saw historic turnout,” Islam said Wednesday. “All across Georgia, people stood in lines for hours and hours. The least we can do, after their tremendous efforts, is guarantee that their voice will be fully heard and their votes counted.”
The winner of the 7th District Democratic runoff will face Dr.
Rich McCormick, who won the Republican primary handily over state Sen. Renee Unterman of Buford and five other candidates.
Other runoffs will take place Aug. 11 pitting Republicans Matt Gurtler and Andrew Clyde in Northeast Georgia’s 9th Congressional District, and between 9th District Democrats Brooke Siskin and Devin Pandy. The respective runoff winners will compete for the vacancy being left by Rep. Doug Collins, R-Gainesville, who is running for the U.S. Senate.
In the 13th Congressional District, veteran incumbent Rep. David Scott, D-Atlanta, will have to go an extra round with former state Rep. Keisha Waites to win his party’s nomination. The Democratic runoff winner will oppose Republican Becky Hites, who easily won the 13th District GOP primary, in November.
And in the 14th District, Marjorie Taylor Greene and John Cowan emerged to take the top two spots in a crowded Republican primary field looking to succeed Rep. Tom Graves, R-Ranger, who is not seeking re-election. The GOP runoff winner will be a huge favorite in the heavily Republican district over Democrat Kevin Van Ausdal, who won his party’s nomination Tuesday unopposed.