Dareh Gregorian
Before 123d / 01:50 UTC
Georgia’s most populous county polling officer said Friday he expected officials to upload their last 4,600 ballots before the end of the night – despite online trolls robbing him of the services of one of his fastest workers.
Fulton County’s polling officer Richard Barron told reporters he expected the county’s final 3,800 provisional ballots and over 800 foreign and military ballots to be put on the state’s voting list before midnight.
He added that the job was done without one of his most reliable employees. The man received threats after the video of throwing away a piece of paper went viral on Twitter and Facebook, accusing him of being “corrupt” and throwing ballot papers away. Barron said the allegation was “undeniably false” – the worker threw away an instruction sheet that a voter mistakenly included on his ballot. This is a piece of paper that is much smaller than the 19-inch ballot.
He said the worker’s name, address, and even information about his car were being shared online by people who accused him of “fraud” and forced him to go into hiding.
Barron said he spoke to the worker and “I expressed my sadness that all of this happened to him just because he was an election worker.”
John Lapinski, Stephanie Perry and Charles Riemann
Before 123d / 00:14 UTC
While we wait … That’s what the NBC News Decision Desk calls races
Learn how NBC News calls races on Election Night, what steps NBC News is taking to verify the results, and how to answer some frequently asked questions.
At the beginning of election night, the NBC News Decision Desk uses data from the initial poll to determine whether uncompetitive races can be called. Most races are called based on analysis of the voting results at the district and county level.
The analyzes also examine differences between early and election day votes. In tight competitions, carefully analyzing how many votes have not been counted is a crucial part of the process. No race is planned until the decision desk is at least 99.5 percent convinced of the winner.
How are votes counted? Data reporters across the country speak to local election officials and report the results of the raw votes from the polls to their conclusion and from county to county long afterwards. The data is complemented by computer feeds and state and county voting websites, when available.
Read the whole story here.
The Associated Press
Before 123d / 22:06 UTC
Proponents are looking for Georgian voters to correct bad ballots
Proponents of both presidential candidates ran to find every person in Georgia who had submitted a faulty ballot before Friday’s time ran out to fix the papers in a race that could be decided in a tight spot.
Hours before the 5 p.m. deadline, Christin Clatterbuck and Sarah Meng joined about 20 other volunteers visiting suburban Atlanta addresses in Gwinnett County to look for voters whose ballots were originally rejected but signed or an ID could be provided.
Cam Ashling, a Democratic activist who organized the small effort, gave instructions and an encouraging talk. “It has never been truer than now that every vote counts,” she called next to a pickup truck with a bed full of snacks, water and a large bottle of hand sanitizer.
Clatterbuck and Meng drove through suburban neighborhoods in their small SUV. They passed rose bushes and knocked on the door of a house in Lilburn looking for a 19 year old voter. Her father answered and promised to give her a call at college.
Other problematic votes were cast by people who are not on the electoral roll and who need to explain why. They must correct or “heal” their ballot papers until the number of votes expires.
Read more here.
Sahil Kapur
Before 123d / 9:22 UTC
ADL urges Pelosi, McCarthy to keep QAnon-backed legislators off committees
WASHINGTON – The Anti-Defamation League is asking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., And Minority Chairperson Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., To block the new members committees that run the far-right QAnon Have supported the conspiracy movement.
The CEO and National Director of the Civil Rights Group, Jonathan A. Greenblatt, sent a letter to House leaders asking them to “take note of all members of the 117th Congress who approve, believe in, or intentionally” QAnon have applied to remove them. ” the Democratic Caucus and Republican Conference, and refuse to assign them to the congressional committees. “
While the letter received from NBC News and dated last week did not mention names, MP-Elect Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., Has drawn national attention for promoting QAnon content .
A spokesman for McCarthy, who oversees the duties of the Republican Committee as the caucus leader, did not immediately respond to an email asking if Greene would be allowed into panels.
The Democratic House voted in October to condemn QAnon in a resolution found that “many QAnon supporters express anti-Semitic views”. FBI agents have linked the extremist movement to terrorist threats. Greenblatt said removing QAnon’s promoters from the committees would send the right message.
“Such a determined and meaningful action will make it clear that the US House of Representatives will not allow the split to occur under the banner of such conspiratorial belief systems,” he wrote. “Silence and inaction in the face of such unacceptable behavior let the conspiracy grow unchallenged.”
Dartunorro Clark
Before 123d / 22:05 UTC
Republicans are fighting on Twitter to support Trump’s unsubstantiated election fraud claims
Texas GOP MP Dan Crenshaw and new Georgia GOP MP Marjorie Taylor Greene had a war of words on Twitter Friday for supporting Trump’s unsubstantiated fraud allegations and falsely declaring victory.
The Republican struggle began when Greene, a Georgia businesswoman who had voiced her support for right-wing QAnon conspiracy theory and criticized for a number of racist comments, suggested that Crenshaw give up and criticize him for being a “loser after him.” – Thinking “said in a tweet,” We’ll have to accept the final results when it’s over. ”
The time to stand up for @realDonaldTrump is NOW!
Republicans can’t back down.
With this attitude of losers, the Democrats win.
President Trump fought for us, we have to fight for him.
We will not be forgotten. Trust me. https://t.co/rN83otNxZd
– Marjorie Taylor Greene (@mtgreenee) November 6, 2020
Crenshaw then pushed back on Greene, who also pointed to retaliation for Republicans who don’t support the president, and asked if she was “just lying deliberately so you can talk harshly”?
“Nobody said give up. I literally said, investigate every irregularity and use the dishes. You’re a member of Congress now, Marjorie. Act like one,” he tweeted.
Some Republican lawmakers and officials have opposed Trump’s string of false claims about the presidential election, though not all mentioned him by name.
NBC News predicted that Greene, a staunch Trump supporter, won her home race for Georgia’s 14th Congressional District on Tuesday. Crenshaw, also a loyal Trump supporter, won re-election to represent Texas’s 2nd Congressional District.
Photo: Naked Cowboy exchanges words with Biden followers in Times Square, NYC
Biden supporter Julie De Laurier urges the Naked Cowboy, a Trump supporter, to maintain appropriate social distance in Times Square in New York on Friday. Julius Constantine Motal / NBC News
Dareh Gregorian
Before 123d / 20:27 UTC
GOP Senator Perdue’s campaign prepares for the upcoming Georgia runoff election
NBC News hasn’t made a projection in their race, but Senator David Perdue’s campaign said Friday it was preparing for a runoff election against Democrat Jon Ossoff in Georgia.
A runoff between Perdue and Ossoff could be vital to control of the U.S. Senate and take place on January 5th – the same day Georgia holds another runoff between Democrat Raphael Warnock and Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler.
“The stakes in this election could not be higher: a vote for Ossoff is a vote to give Chuck Schumer and the radical Democrats in Washington power,” said Perdue campaign manager Ben Fry in a statement. “The Georgians won’t let that happen.”
“We look forward to overtime,” added Fry, quoting Perdue’s “commanding leadership.”
With 98 percent of the vote, Perdue Ossoff leads by 2 percentage points and is 0.2 percent below the 50 percent total vote threshold that he needs to finally win the seat.
Ossoff told reporters in Atlanta earlier Friday that he too believed “this race is about to be a runoff” but claimed that “we all have momentum, all energy and are on the right side of history”. “Senator David Perdue is retiring,” said Ossoff.
Peter Alexander, Shannon Pettypiece, Hallie Jackson and Monica Alba
Before 123d / 20:18 UTC
Bossie leads Trump’s election challenges
President Trump’s campaign hired David Bossie, its 2016 deputy campaign manager and head of Conservative advocacy, Citizens United, to lead its efforts to challenge election results in several states, including Arizona and Pennsylvania, according to a person familiar with the decision .
Bossie was already involved in coordinating legal efforts and communicating with the lawyers involved, said a person familiar with the strategy. However, it is unclear whether he will play the same role James Baker played for George W. Bush in 2000 in coordinating legal response and strategy.
The New York Times first reported that Bossie would take the lead in electoral disputes.
Photo: Alex Jones joins protesters in Maricopa County
Far-right radio host Alex Jones prepares to speak to supporters of President Donald Trump outside the Maricopa County Electoral Department as the votes are counted in Phoenix on Friday.Olivier Touron / AFP – Getty Images
