Washington Post: Federal Judge Delays Certification of Georgia Election Results, Citing Concerns Over Provisional Ballots

A federal judge has barred the Georgia secretary of state’s office from immediately certifying election results to allow more time to address problems with thousands of provisional ballots that voters were forced to cast last week.

Tuesday is the deadline for Georgia’s 159 counties to certify their elections results, and the secretary of state had planned to certify those results on Wednesday. But U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg said late Monday that the secretary of state could not certify results before Friday and that it had to “immediately establish and publicize on its website a secure and free-access hotline or website for provisional ballot voters to access to determine whether their provisional ballots were counted and if not, the reason why.”

The ruling in the suit brought by Common Cause means a few more days of uncertainty about the Georgia governor’s race, in which Democrat Stacey Abrams has not yet conceded and is hoping to force a runoff with Republican Brian Kemp, who is leading by about 59,000 votes. Kemp, who resigned as secretary of state late last week and declared victory, said that there are not enough outstanding votes to keep him from claiming the office.

“Today’s ruling is a victory for the voters of Georgia. We are all stronger when every eligible voter is allowed to participate in our elections,” said Sara Henderson, executive director of Common Cause Georgia said in a statement. “This victory helps achieve greater voter confidence in our elections.”