Georgia expected to be nearing the end of its extended ballot counting on Thursday afternoon.
But the battle in the Peach State may not be over yet following irregularities in many of the historically red state’s outlying blue regions, such as the counties encompassing Atlanta and Savannah.
The latest ballot dumps saw Trump’s margin of victory continuing to narrow, with some estimating, based on the rate of net gains for Biden, that the final tally could come down to a thousand votes or fewer.
As of 12:45 p.m. on Thursday, Trump’s edge was just over 13,000 votes with about 50,000 remaining ballots.
However, in some of the counties with large numbers remaining, Democrat Joe Biden was outpacing President Donald Trump by a roughly 2:1 margin, leaving open the possibility of a net gain of about 10,000 for Biden.
Trump’s legal team, meanwhile, was ready to do battle amid concerns over vote fraud and other election irregularities.
On Wednesday, it filed suit in Chatham County—a blue-leaning county encompassing Savannah with an estimated 17,000 untallied votes remaining on Thursday afternoon.
The suit, filed jointly with the Georgia Republican Party, alleged that, according to observers, a poll worker there had mixed in 53 unprocessed absentee ballots with a batch of processed ballots, according to Fox 5 Atlanta.
The suit asked that a judge order the county to secure and account for any new ballots received after 7 p.m. on Election Day and sought to pause the counting until such measures were established.
State party chair David Shafer indicated Wednesday night that they planned to sue a dozen counties to ensure the ballots were properly guarded.
However, Chatham County Superior Court Judge James Bass dismissed the case after a one-hour hearing with no explanation, the Fox channel reported.
County officials reportedly testified that the ballots had been received on time.
Georgia’s Republican secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, was among the state officials working hard to reassure the nation that ballot security and election integrity were top priorities.
“We’re well aware that with a close presidential election and the possibility of runoffs in some elections that the eyes of the state and the nation are upon Georgia at this time,” Raffensperger said, touting measures such as security cameras, monitors and audits.
“We’re as anxious as anyone to see the final results and to start work on certification and planning for our runoff elections,” he continued. “As the work goes on, I want to assure Georgia voters that every legal vote was cast and accurately counted.”
The Trump campaign has filed additional lawsuits over election integrity concerns in Michigan and Pennsylvania, and it announced that it planned to file one in Nevada also. The campaign also has called for a recount in Wisconsin.
