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Abrams campaign wins court rulings as push for a runoff election continues

A court extended the deadline to certify election results until Friday.

Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams addresses supporters at an election watch party on November 6, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia.  Abrams and her opponent, Republican Brian Kemp, are in a tight race that is too close to call.  A runoff for Georgia's governor is likely.  (Photo by Jessica McGowan/Getty Images)
Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams addresses supporters at an election watch party on November 6, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. Abrams and her opponent, Republican Brian Kemp, are in a tight race that is too close to call. A runoff for Georgia's governor is likely. (Photo by Jessica McGowan/Getty Images)

A week after the midterm election left Georgia’s gubernatorial race too close to call, Democrat Stacey Abrams is refusing to concede and the campaign is winning court orders, allowing the counting of votes to continue.

Abrams hopes that Republican candidate Brian Kemp’s vote total will drop below 50 percent, forcing a runoff in the race for Georgia’s governor’s mansion.

In a ruling late Monday, a federal judge in Atlanta ordered Georgia to ensure that provisional ballots aren’t unlawfully rejected and to wait until Friday to certify the election results. The state had planned on certifying results on Wednesday, one day after the counties were to have submitted their certified vote totals.

In her order, Judge Amy Totenberg also ordered the secretary of state’s office to set up a hotline and website so voters can check whether their provisional ballots have been counted.

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She also ordered the secretary of state’s office to review counties where more than 100 provisional ballots were cast to determine if there were issues.

On Tuesday, voting advocates secured another win when a court issued a temporary restraining order requiring Gwinnett County to accept absentee ballots from voters who did not provide their birth date. The Gwinnett County Board of Elections had rejected at least 265 ballots because of that error, according to the lawsuit.

In a post on Medium, Abrams campaign manager Lauren Groh-Wargo explained how the campaign believes it has found 30,823 ballots that the secretary of state’s office has not yet counted.

Image via Stacey Abrams campaign
Image via Stacey Abrams campaign

“That’s not even including the ballots submitted by members of the military or Georgia voters overseas, which could be as high as 2,684 (which is the number of requested ballots),” she wrote. “Combined, they represent 33,507 ballots entirely ignored by the Secretary of State office.”

On Election Day, ThinkProgress reported that polling places in Gwinnett County, a majority-minority Democratic stronghold outside Atlanta, had over four hour lines to cast a ballot.

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ThinkProgress also observed dozens of African American students in Atlanta who were forced to cast provisional ballots, many without understanding why their ballots may not be counted.