Policy

Georgia is expected to be a key state in the presidential race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.

2024 presidential race of Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump There may be a statistical twist, but election forecasters seem to agree on one thing: seven key states will decide the outcome.

Yes all eyes will be on you ArizonaGeorgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, PennsylvaniaAnd Wisconsin Votes are counted and states are called on election night and possibly in the following days.

Follow the 2024 Georgia presidential election results live below.

2024 Georgia presidential election information:

Live 2024 Georgia presidential election results

See more live 2024 election results:

When do the polls close in Georgia?

19:00 ET

How many electoral votes does Georgia have?

16

Which Georgia county election results should you watch?

Georgia state law allows county election officials to begin tabulating mail ballots at 7 a.m. on Election Day. As a result, the first votes reported on election night will include many of these mail-in votes and early in-person votes. In general, since the issue of early and mail voting became highly politicized during the 2020 election, those votes tended to favor Democrats. This suggests that in a competitive contest, the Democratic candidate could take an early lead in vote counting in the first vote reports after polls close, even if the race tightens significantly as more votes are tabulated.

In the 2022 U.S. Senate race, for example, Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock was ahead of Republican Herschel Walker by nearly 40 percentage points after the first voting batches were announced after polls closed, but his vote margin fell to less than about 1 point. It remained there for two hours and the rest of the count and through certification. Mail and early in-person voting accounted for nearly 64% of all votes in this election.

In September, the Georgia State Board of Elections adopted a new rule requiring poll workers to hand count the number of paper ballots cast at polling places. Critics worried that the last-minute rule change could create chaos at local election offices and significantly delay the vote counting process. A Fulton County Superior Court judge blocked the rule in October.

In statewide elections, Republicans performed best in smaller, more rural counties in the northern, central and southeastern parts of the state, while Democrats posted their best numbers in Atlanta, Augusta, Columbus, Macon, Savannah, and Athens.

Counties in the Atlanta area, in particular, are often crucial to a statewide victory, but for different reasons. Fulton and DeKalb are overwhelmingly Democratic, giving Biden 73% and 83% of the vote in 2020. Hillary Clinton also won overwhelmingly in both counties in 2016, with 69% and 81% of the vote, respectively. He lost Georgia to Trump.

Cobb and Gwinnett counties are more competitive, but both tilted toward Democrats in recent elections. Barack Obama lost both counties in both of his campaigns, while Clinton narrowly won the two counties with 49% and 51% of the votes, respectively. Biden fared significantly better in 2020, winning 56% and 59% of the vote in the two counties. Trump doesn’t need to win districts to win the state, as long as he can keep Harris at Clinton 2016 levels instead of Biden 2020 levels.

The Associated Press does not make predictions and will only declare a winner when it determines that there is no scenario that would allow the trailing candidates to close the gap. Unless a race is called, the AP will continue to cover any newsworthy developments, such as candidate concessions or victory declarations. In doing so, the AP will make it clear that it is not declaring a winner and explain why.

While Georgia does not have an automatic recount provision, the losing candidate can request a recount if the margin is less than or equal to 0.5% of the total votes. The AP can declare the winner in a race eligible for a recount if it determines that the margin is too large for a recount or that there is a legal challenge to change the outcome.

What were the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia?

Biden (D) 49.5%, Trump (R) 49.3%

AP race call: Thursday, November 19, 2020, 7:58 PM ET.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.