Rough Draft will be providing updates on the Nov. 5 General Election all day in this blog. Be sure to bookmark and check back often for updates from the Rough Draft team and our media partners – The Associated Press, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Atlanta Civic Circle, Capitol Beat, Georgia Recorder, and GPB News.
Here’s a list of Election Day food deals and watch parties to attend tonight.
12:40 a.m.
The BBC, CNN, and other media outlets have projected that Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump will win Georgia and its 16 electoral votes.
Wednesday, 12:17 a.m.
From AP:
Republicans have won control of the U.S. Senate, retaking the chamber for the first time in four years. It gives the party a major power center in Washington and a big role in confirming the next president’s Cabinet, as well as any Supreme Court justice if there is a vacancy.
Control over the House of Representatives is still up for grabs, with over 100 races yet to be called.
11:50 p.m.:
It appears Nicole Evans Jones and Eshé Collins are headed to a Dec. 3 runoff for the Atlanta City Council Post 3 At-Large seat. Jones is leading with 40% of the vote while Collins has garnered nearly 25%. It takes 50% + 1 to win the election.
11:38 p.m.
Georgia Rep. Esther Panitch (D) has declared her win over challenger Gettman (R) with a 58.1% win.
Panitch posted on social media: “Thank you to the good people of my district for re-electing me to the Georgia State House!! I look forward to serving y’all another term! #gapol”
11:18 p.m.
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said in an evening Election Day update that he believes Donald Trump will take Georgia’s 16 electoral votes.
“If you look at who’s leading the race right now, Donald J. Trump has an insurmountable lead with a number of votes outstanding,” Raffensperger said.
With more than 90% of ballots counted, Trump is leading by more than 142,000 votes, although vote counts are still being tabulated in Democratic strongholds including DeKalb County.
11:07 p.m.
From the AJC:
Over 70% of Georgia counties have tabulated and uploaded their early and absentee ballot results. DeKalb County has yet to share results.
Senate Bill 189, which was signed into law in May, requires counties to tabulate and upload all early and absentee ballots within an hour after polls close.
“We were dealing with the bomb threats, just kind of multi-tasking,” Erik Burton, a consultant working with the county for the election said, when asked about the delay.
The county has released overview data showing they saw 52% voter turnout this year. 258,199 ballots were cast.
11 p.m.
From our media partner GPB News:
Fulton County Board of Elections officials reported record turnout as the polls closed Tuesday evening despite disruptions.
There were bomb threats at 32 poll locations across the county, but only 5 voting locations had to stay open late after temporarily closing.
Fulton County Police Chief Wade Yates says they planned heavily for a situation like this and law enforcement is working together to resolve it.
“We don’t know where the threat – where the threats came from at this point, and it is an active investigation,” Yates said. “But we do intend on doing our best to locate who who made the threats and prosecute them fully.”
State officials say the false threats originated in Russia.
10:28 p.m.
Democrat Shea Roberts has won her Ga. District 52 State House race, besting GOP challenger Robert McNally. She said she was honored to be re-elected by her constituents for a third term.
“We’ve done a lot, but there is more to be done,” she said.
10:05 p.m.
With over 4.2 million ballots counted, former President Donald Trump leads Vice President Kamala Harris by 245,000 votes.
Harris would have to win a significant number of the remaining votes to overcome her deficit.
Total turnout was projected to reach 5.2 million, meaning Harris would need to receive 62% of remaining votes to close the gap.
But the race isn’t over yet.
Many of the outstanding votes are in Democratic-leaning areas that have yet to report their Election Day vote totals.
9:48 p.m.
From our media partner the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Early and absentee ballots in DeKalb County were tabulated and announced Tuesday with 83% percent of those votes going towards Kamala Harris.
The county saw saw 258,199 early and absentee ballots cast. That is 52% of DeKalb’s registered voters.
There are an estimated 28,521 election day votes that are yet to be counted.
In 2020, President Joe Biden received 308,162 total votes in the deep blue county — sweeping with 83% of the total votes compared to former President Donald Trump’s 58,377 votes.
DeKalb didn’t release its early and absentee ballot results until nearly 9 p.m. — an hour after most counties.
9:32 p.m.
From our senior staff writer Dyana Bagby:
Devin Barrington-Ward, at his watch party at Virgils Gullah Kitchen &. Bar West Midtown just a few minutes ago, acknowledged he would not be moving on in his bid for the Post 3 At-Large. A progressive candidate, Barrington-Ward has been outspoken at city council meeting against the Atlanta Police Public Safety Training Center, known as Cop City. He has also accused the council of not doing enough to create more affordable housing.
“Right now we need to recognize as progressives, we need to be spending more time organizing … and having robust political debates so when our candidates run they have a ground game, an ecosystem built up for them to be successful,” he said.
“But this doesn’t indicate progressive issues are not important to Atlantans,” he said.
At this posting, Nicole Evans Jones was leading the vote count followed by Eshe Collins.
9:10 p.m.
At a 9 p.m. press conference, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said 60% of Georgia’s vote has been tabulated. Three million votes have already been counted of the 5.2 million total, he said.
9 p.m.
AP has called several more metro Atlanta races, including wins for incumbent Democrats U.S. House Dist. 4 Rep. Hank Johnson and Dist. 13 Rep. David Scott.
8:50 p.m.
Crowds continue to gather at Manuel’s Tavern in Poncey-Highland as results continue to come in. Nationally, Trump is leading 101 electoral votes to Harris’ 71, but the night is young as we continue to watch what the battleground states will do, including Georgia.
8:30 p.m.
The Associated Press has already called a number of Georgia races, including Democrats Lucy McBath for U.S. House Dist. 6 and Nikema Williams for U.S. House Dist. 5.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis will retain her seat, according to AP.
See more live results here.
8:22 p.m.
Susie Greenberg, the Democrat candidate for Georgia House of Representatives
District 53, held her election watch party at Bar Ti Amo in Buckhead. More than 60
people had arrived shortly after the polls closed.
Greenberg, who is opposing incumbent Republican candidate Deborah Silcox, said she had a great campaign. She said when she knocked on doors while campaigning, every person answered enthusiastically. They asked her for a few things.
“Restoring women’s rights, common sense gun laws. Common sense gun reforms,
because our children are dying in schools. This district supports a commonsense
approach without infringing on the Second Amendment,” Greenberg said.
8 p.m.
A DeKalb County judge has ordered these polling locations to stay open later following a series of bomb threats this evening:
7:55 p.m.
A poll conducted by The Associated Press shows an equal split for Democratic nominees Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican former President Trump.
In a survey of 4,000 voters as of 3 p.m. today, each candidate had a favorability rating of 48% in Georgia. The survey has a margin of error of 1.9 percentage points.
AP VoteCast is a survey of the American electorate conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago for Fox News, PBS NewsHour, The Wall Street Journal and The Associated Press.
The survey of more than 110,000 voters was conducted for eight days, concluding as polls closed. Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish.
7:35 p.m.
Precincts in DeKalb County that received bomb threats are staying opening later, but we have been unable to ascertain the exact times. The locations:
- New Bethel AME Church
- North DeKalb Senior Center
- Reid H. Cofer Library
- Wesley Chapel Library
7 p.m.
Barring a few locations where hours were extended due to bomb threats and interruptions, polls are now closing across the state of Georgia. You can follow live local, state and national election results here through our partnership with the Associated Press.
6:55 p.m.
A steady trickle of voters were heading into polling places in the last half hour of voting at the Sandy Springs Library, North Fulton Annex and Spalding Drive Elementary.
Shana McCrory of Sandy Springs was campaigning for down ballot candidates also, including Fulton District 2 Commission candidate Megan Harris. She said people should vote for the person who stands for the change they want to see.
“The election doesn’t stop at the presidential race,” McCrory said.
6:50 p.m.
Crowds are already filling the parking lot at Manuel’s Tavern waiting for election returns to come in. Manuel’s has been hosting election night parties since the mid-1970s. You can read more in Beth McKibben’s piece here.
6:40 p.m.
Fulton County’s early votes and ballots cast today should start being tabulated by 8 p.m., said Nadine Williams, director of Registration and Elections, at a 6:30 p.m. board meeting. Nearly 93,000 people cast ballots in Fulton County today and more than 417,000 ballots were cast during early voting, she said.
Williams said Election Day in Fulton County went smoothly “but unfortunately we did have some disruptions with bomb threats.” The sites impacted have extended hours:
Etris Darnell Community Center – Open until 7:45 p.m.
C.H. Gullatt Elementary School – Open until 7:15 p.m.
Southwest Arts Center – Open until 7:43 p.m.
Northwood Elementary School – Open until 7:45 p.m.
Lake Forest Elementary School – Open until 7:10 p.m.
Fulton County has 177 polling sites.
6:30 p.m.
According to our reporter Cathy Cobbs, the bomb threat at Reid H. Cofer Library in Tucker came in around 5:30 p.m. Police investigated the building, but nothing was found. Voting started up again around 6:20 p.m.
According to a poll worker on the scene, two people who were about to check in had to evacuate the building, but the threat did not interrupt any voters who were actively in the process of casting a vote.
6:15 p.m.
DeKalb County said it is dealing with a spate of bomb threats at several polling sites. Police sweeps are underway and the sites evacuated. The DeKalb County law department is now seeking to add more time to vote at the locations where bomb threats were made:
- New Bethel AME Church, 8350 Rockbridge Rd., Lithonia
- New Life Community Center, 3592 Flat Shoals Rd., Decatur
- North DeKalb Senior Center, 3393 Malone Dr., Chamblee
- Reid H. Cofer Library, 5234 Lavista Rd., Tucker
- Wesley Chapel Library, 2861 Wesley Chapel Rd., Decatur
“Every asset that we have will be deployed to ensure that every citizen who wants to vote will be given that opportunity and every vote cast will be counted,” DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond said in a news release.
6 p.m.
Five Fulton County polling places will stay open late due to bomb threats called in earlier in the day by alleged Russian hoaxers.
Etris Darnell Community Center – Open until 7:45 p.m.
C.H. Gullatt Elementary School – Open until 7:15 p.m.
Southwest Arts Center – Open until 7:43 p.m.
Northwood Elementary School – Open until 7:45 p.m.
Lake Forest Elementary School – Open until 7:10 p.m.
Also staying open late are these Cobb County precincts:
Mount Paran Church of God, 1700 Allgood Rd NE, Marietta – Open until 7:30 p.m.
Kell High School, 4770 Lee Waters Road, Marietta – Open until 7:30 p.m.
And these Gwinnett County precincts:
- Precincts 51 and 112, which are both housed in the Mountain Park Activity Building – Open until 7:58 p.m.
5:30 p.m.
Cathy Cobbs visited the DeKalb County Voter Registration and Election Office in Decatur, where hundreds of election workers were lining up to receive their “black boxes” and head out to their respective precincts to gather the sites’ voting information. After polls close at 7 p.m., they will head back to the facility to tabulate DeKalb County votes.
An election worker who has been at the facility since 6:30 a.m. said there was a “fair amount of confusion” involving about 300 voters, who mistakenly thought that they could vote at that location, which had previously been an early-voting precinct.
“There was one woman who had taken three buses to get here, and it was terrible to have to divert her back to her home precinct,” the worker said.
5:20 p.m.
With less than two hours of voting left to go across Georgia, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said more than 800,000 ballots had been cast today and he was expecting the number to increase to 1.1 million by 7 p.m. With early and absentee votes, that would put Georgia’s total at “north of 5.2 million,” Raffensperger said.
Former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin and former U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, members of the bipartisan Democracy Defense Project, said they had been monitoring voting at the invitation of the Secretary of State.
“Georgians can trust the process,” Franklin said during the press conference.
When asked by a reporter to comment on Donald Trump’s ongoing accusations of voter fraud, Chambliss said “losers are never happy.”
“There have been accusations and statements of cheating on both sides that have gone all the way through the courts, which said the elections were proper and no cheating impacted the outcome,” Chambliss said. “Losers are never happy, but we live in a country where the loser stands up and says they are disappointed in the outcome, but I don’t think there’s going to be a loser today who can say there was fraud.”
4:50 p.m.
CNN reports that a federal judge on Tuesday said he would not order several Georgia counties – including Fulton and DeKalb – to reject absentee ballots that were hand-delivered to polling places over the weekend, despite Republican allegations that those ballots were cast improperly.
Judge Stan Baker said the GOP was “cherry-picking” when complaining about a few counties where voters had additional hours over the weekend to drop off their ballots — and that the extra time “is simply not a substantive disparity.”
Political action nonprofit Fair Fight responded to the decision with this statement: “This decision is a victory for Georgia voters and a testament to the strength of our democracy. The GOP’s repeated anti-voter lawsuits reveal their true strategy: suppressing votes, especially those who lean Democratic, to tilt the scales in favor of Donald Trump and disregard any kind of truth or law. The Trump-appointed judge who ruled on this suit was clear that their lawsuit was baseless and this decision reinforces that the rule of law and voters’ rights will prevail over partisan efforts to undermine our elections.”
4:30 p.m.
Georgia Secretary of State COO Gabriel Sterling is urging absentee voters to visit the My Voter Page to make sure their ballot arrived. If not, “PLEASE GO VOTE”.
From our media partner The Associated Press: Voting rights activists were canvassing in Cobb County trying to reach thousands of voters who received their absentee ballots late to tell them Nov. 5 is the deadline to return the ballots or vote in person.
The Georgia Supreme Court ruled Monday that the deadline for returning the ballots would not be extended.
Cobb County, just north of Atlanta, didn’t mail out absentee ballots to some 3,400 voters who had requested them until late last week. A judge in a lower court ruled that the ballots at issue could be counted if they’re received by this Friday, three days after Election Day, as long as they were postmarked by Tuesday.
“We have people in Cobb County trying to let people know they need to get their ballots in or get to the polls today,” said Margaret Huang, president and CEO of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which filed a lawsuit on behalf of three Cobb County voters.
The 3,400 votes could be significant in a state that was decided by fewer than 12,000 in 2020.
From our media partner Georgia Recorder: Fulton County is Georgia’s largest county and gives Democrats a huge number of votes, but Republicans can still run up the score in Fulton, particularly in the county’s more conservative north. And while Donald Trump and Kamala Harris will get the majority of the votes today, some voters said they were casting their ballot for Green Party candidate Jill Stein due to Trump and Harris’ stance on the ongoing Israel- Palestinian War. Read more.
Students at Davis Academy in Dunwoody conducted a mock election today to learn about their future civic responsibilities.
4 p.m.
Most voters across the top end of the Perimeter have reported they have had an easy time voting today, even during the sometimes-busy lunch hours. Precincts in Sandy Springs and various locations in Dunwoody, including its library, middle and high schools and churches have less than five minutes’ wait time. One person posted on social media that “it took me longer to walk across the parking lot from my car than it did to vote.”
2:30 p.m.
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said in a 2:30 p.m. update that Georgia will not be intimidated by Russian meddling in the election after another bomb threat was called into a Gwinnett County polling place in Stone Mountain. State officials and the FBI are already investigating alleged Russian-tied bomb hoaxes at five polling places in Fulton earlier this morning.
Raffensperger said voters were seeing waits of less than five minutes at the polls. 700,000 voters have cast ballots today since polls opened at 7 a.m.
He reiterated that nearly 70 percent of Georgia’s vote will be known within an hour of polls closing tonight after more than 4 million early and absentee ballots were banked ahead of election day.
“We’ll have this all done before the night is out,” Raffensperger said.
2:10 p.m.
Manuel’s Tavern hasn’t missed hosting an election night watch party since Brian Maloof’s late father, founder of the Poncey-Highland restaurant and bar, began the annual tradition in the mid-1970s.
Maloof expects people to start showing up at Manuel’s Tavern to scoop up seats inside well before the polls close on Election Day. The crowd should begin to swell around 7 p.m., spilling out into the parking lot. For people coming to Manuel’s Tavern later in the evening, Maloof advised bringing a lawn chair to ensure having a place to sit outside. Otherwise, it’s standing-room only.
2 p.m.
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said that bomb threats called into Fulton County polling places this morning “were of Russian origin,” according to reporting from CNN.
“We’ve heard some threats that were of Russian origin,” Raffensperger said. “They’re up to mischief, it seems, and they don’t want us to have a smooth, fair and accurate election,” Raffensperger said, but didn’t elaborate on how officials determined that Russia was involved.
The FBI issued a statement that it is “working closely with state and local law enforcement partners to respond to election threats and protect our communities as Americans exercise their right to vote.”
1:45 p.m.
Two Cobb County polling locations will stay open until 7:20 p.m. after equipment malfunctions this morning. A Cobb County Superior Court Judge issued an order to keep polls open at Mount Paran Church of God, 1700 Allgood Road, NE, Marietta, and Kell 01 at Kell High School, 4770 Lee Waters Road, Marietta.
The FBI has issued a statement on use of the bureau’s name and insignia in fake videos circulating on social media. One video claims that voters should “vote remotely” due to possible terrorist attacks, while another claims that prisons in Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Arizona rigged inmate voting and colluded with a political party. Read the full FBI statement here.
11:50 a.m.
11:30 a.m.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said voting has been “smooth sailing” so far during a press conference this morning.
He said the average wait to vote in just two minutes and its taking less than 50 second to check in.
Raffensperger expects more than 1 million voters to cast ballots today, calling turnout “solid and steady.”
“The lines are moving so quickly. People are in and out in 10 minutes,” he said.
11 a.m.
Voters are waiting short times to cast ballots in Fulton and DeKalb counties. To check on wait times in Fulton, click here. DeKalb County wait times can be found by clicking here.
10:40 a.m.
Two Fulton County polling locations in Union City were shut down and evacuated for approximately 30 minutes this morning after receiving “non-credible” bomb threats, said Nadine Williams, director of Registration and Elections, at a 10 a.m. media briefing.
The sites evacuated were Etris-Darnell Community Center and C.H. Gullatt Elementary School. South Fulton Police did a sweep of the buildings and said the threats were “non-credible.”
Other locations received non-credible bomb threats, but were not evacuated, she said.
“We did have five non-credible bomb threats that were reported leading to a temporary evacuation of two locations for approximately 30 minutes each,” Williams said.
“We have advised poll managers to make sure that they confirm with the officer on site who will get make sure that information is credible,” Williams said.
Fulton County election officials are working to get a court order to extend voting times at the two sites, Williams said.
“Thankfully, these locations are now operational again, and all polling sites are secure with active security presence,” Williams said.
South Fulton Police are investigating the bomb threats.
“Outside of these brief interruptions, Election Day has been quiet with minimal issues reported, and we remain prepared to address any misinformation or additional disruptions to ensure a smooth experience for all voters today,” Williams said.
As of 9:40 a.m., over 29.500 votes had been cast, Williams said.
10:30 a.m.
All quiet at the polling place at First Baptist Church in Smyrna, according to associate editor Sammie Purcell.
10 a.m.
Our contributor Clare Richie met Terrence Brisbon, a DJ with One Night Entertainment, spinning tunes outside Virginia Highland Elementary this morning. He is one of 300 “DJs at the Polls” all across Georgia today. He’s going to be at Magnolia Hall in Piedmont Park from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and then heads to Lutheran Church of the Redeemer.
9:30 a.m.
There are more campaign signs than voters at the Sandy Spring Library this morning. Several people reported wait times of less than three minutes before entering the booth. A manned Fulton County Police car is parked at the edge of the lot.
9:15 a.m.
Voter turnout is very light at the Dunwoody Library with wait times of less than five minutes. A Dunwoody Police cruiser is parked at the corner of the lot outside the building.
9 a.m.
Earlier this morning, Attorney General Chris Carr released a joint statement with a coalition of 50 other attorneys general condemning political violence in response to today’s election.
“Regardless of the outcome of Tuesday’s election, we expect that Americans will respond peacefully and we condemn any acts of violence related to the results,” the statement reads. “A peaceful transfer of power is the highest testament to the rule of law, a tradition that stands at the heart of our nation’s stability. As Attorneys General, we affirm our commitment to protect our communities and uphold the democratic principles we serve.”
On Jan. 6, 2021, two months after then-President Donald Trump’s loss to President Joe Biden in the 2020 election, supporters of Trump attacked the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington D.C.
“We call upon every American to vote, participate in civil discourse and, above all, respect the integrity of the democratic process,” the statement continues. “Let us come together after this election not divided by outcomes but united in our shared commitment to the rule of law and safety of all Americans. Violence has no place in the democratic process; we will exercise our authority to enforce the law against any illegal acts that threaten it.”
According to a press release, the other attorneys general hail from states and territories across the United States, including Alabama, California, Florida, Kansas, Massachusetts, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
8:45 a.m.
Secretary of State’s Office COO Gabriel Sterling tweeted an update about voting times across the state.
7:30 a.m.
From our media partner The Associated Press:
A Republican lawyer who interned in the White House under Donald Trump is challenging Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, the Georgia prosecutor who brought charges against the former president over efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Courtney Kramer worked in the White House counsel’s office during the Trump presidency and is active in GOP organizations. She’s the first Republican to run for district attorney in Fulton County since 2000.
Fulton County, which is home to 11% of the state’s electorate and includes most of the city of Atlanta, is a Democratic stronghold.
Willis took office in January 2021 after beating her predecessor — and former boss — longtime District Attorney Paul Howard in a bitter Democratic primary fight in 2020.
She made headlines just a month into her tenure when she announced in February 2021 that she was investigating whether Trump and others broke any laws while trying to overturn his narrow loss in the state to Democrat Joe Biden. Two and a half years later, after an investigation that included calling dozens of witnesses before a special grand jury, she obtained a sprawling racketeering indictment against Trump and 18 others in August 2023. Read more.
7:25 a.m.
Rough Draft reader Robbie Medwed voted this morning at the Outlet Community Church at Briarcliff and Clairmont in DeKalb County and said of the early morning line, “When I got there at 6:30 a.m., I was fifth in line. When the polls opened, there were about 25 people in line. When I left at 7:10 a.m., the line had tripled in length.”
7:20 a.m.
From our media partner Georgia Recorder:
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger estimated Monday that more than 1 million Georgians could vote in person Tuesday at one of the state’s 2,200 polling locations. In comparison, about 800,000 people voted during a pandemic on Election Day in the 2020 general election headlined by the presidential contest between Trump, then the Republican incumbent, and Democratic challenger Joe Biden.
Raffensperger said that state and local officials have worked hard over the past several years to improve Georgia’s elections, including through the updating of election rules to enhance transparency and confidence in the electoral process. He promised to keep fighting to tamp down disinformation distributed by hostile actors to cast doubt on Georgia’s election system.
“What we do know is that Gov. Kemp, myself, our General Assembly, and thousands of election workers have worked every day to defend every legal vote,” Raffensperger said. “In the next few days, you may see some extra drama from fringe activists.”
Raffensperger characterized Georgia elections as “easy to vote and hard to cheat,” a common mantra among state leaders responsible for election administration.
7 a.m.
The polls have officially opened across Georgia.
While there are consequential congressional and state legislative races to watch, all eyes will be on the presidential election as Democrat Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican former President Donald Trump square off in this battleground state.
6 a.m.
As polls across Georgia prepare to open at 7 a.m. for the 2024 General Election, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said with 4 million early votes already banked, 70% of the state’s vote total will be known by 8 p.m. this evening. You can find your polling place at the My Voter Page.
Our media partners Atlanta Civic Circle and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution have created this Voter Guide to help you navigate your ballot at the polls today.
Don’t forget there’s a special election today in the City of Atlanta with candidates vying for the Post 3 at-large seat vacated by Keisha Waites in March.
A reminder that Atlanta Public Schools and DeKalb County Schools are closed today, while City Schools of Decatur and Fulton County Schools will have remote learning days. More details here.
The Urban League of Greater Atlanta has partnered with Lyft to offer discounted rides to the polls today, while Buckhead’s The Buc shuttle is offering free rides to polling places in the district. Lime is offering free scooter and bike rides to the polls, too.
