Abrams team filing suit over absentee ballots in Georgia county

Georgia’s Democratic gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams’s campaign announced Thursday that it will file a lawsuit over absentee ballots in Dougherty County as the hotly contested governor’s race remains too close to call.

Kurt Kastorf, who is on Abrams’s legal team, told reporters at a press conference that a lawsuit will be filed later Thursday, claiming that absentee ballots in that county were mailed too slowly. He noted that the first delay was caused by an injunction, but ballots were later delivered late due to Hurricane Michael.

Kastorf alleged other ballot problems in Dougherty County, including some voters who requested an absentee ballot and never received one as well as residents receiving ballots too late to return them by the deadline. The suit is asking the court to count all ballots, even if received late.

He also pointed to provisional ballot issues in Chatham County, Ga., where he said voters who were told they need to cast a provisional ballot were turned away because some polling locations ran out. He said the campaign is holding off on filing a lawsuit there until they collect more affidavits from people who couldn’t vote or from those who had uncounted provisional ballots.

The Abrams campaign press conference comes hours after Republican gubernatorial nominee Brian Kemp announced Thursday morning his resignation as Georgia secretary of state.

Kemp has already declared victory, but Abrams has argued that there are enough uncounted ballots to trigger a Dec. 4 runoff.

According to The Associated Press, Kemp currently holds a 62,709-vote lead, with 100 percent of precincts reporting. But the race has not yet been called by AP or major news outlets.

Abrams has not conceded and called for a recount. Her team on Thursday insisted that they’ll continue fighting until they believe every vote has been counted.

“We are in this race until we’re convinced that every vote is counted,” said Lauren Groh-Wargo, Abrams’s campaign manager, said at Thursday’s press conference. “We don’t believe any of these numbers are credible.”

“These are answers that fall at the feet of Brian Kemp.”