Georgia, a Key Battleground State in US Presidential Election, Halts Vote Counting... "Due to Overseas Absentee Ballots"

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] In Georgia, a key battleground state in the U.S. presidential election, the vote counting was halted again due to the need to wait for the arrival of overseas absentee ballots. In Georgia, absentee ballots postmarked on or before Election Day, November 3 (local time), can be counted if received by the 7th. It is estimated that about 14,000 ballots remain uncounted in Georgia, and the state hopes to complete the counting by the 6th.

According to foreign media such as CNN, on the 5th (local time), Georgia authorities announced that the counting was suspended because overseas absentee ballots, including those from deployed military personnel, had not yet arrived at the election commission. Earlier, Georgia had stated it would complete the counting by late that day at the earliest, but the counting is expected to be paused until the overseas absentee ballots arrive.

Earlier that day, Brad Raffensperger, Georgia Secretary of State, released a statement on the current status of the presidential vote count. He said, "There are approximately 14,097 ballots remaining to be counted," and added, "We hope to complete the counting either later today or by the next morning." As the counting of mail-in ballots began in Georgia, the vote margin between President Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Joe Biden, which had been over 100,000 votes the previous day, narrowed to 1,775 votes. The vote percentages for the two candidates are tied at 49.4% each.

Georgia is also expected not to announce the counting results on the same day, so the announcement of the presidential election results is anticipated to be further delayed.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.