https://www.wsj.com/articles/georgi...s-refuse-to-concede-governor-races-1541607485
Stacey Abrams’s Campaign Considering Legal Options in Georgia Governor’s Race
Democrat pushes for a runoff in close contest; In Wisconsin, Republican Scott Walker refuses to concede
Stacey Abrams, Democratic candidate for governor of Georgia, told supporters at her Atlanta election night gathering that she wasn’t conceding. Photo: Kevin D. Liles/Bloomberg News
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By
Cameron McWhirter and
Erica Snow
Updated Nov. 7, 2018 12:46 p.m. ET
Democrat Stacey Abrams was trailing in her historic bid to
become the nation’s first female African-American governor, but her campaign said Wednesday morning that voting problems as well as uncounted absentee and provisional ballots could force a runoff.
On a midmorning conference call, Ms. Abrams’s campaign manager Lauren Groh-Wargo said the campaign’s lawyers were checking with county election boards and considering litigation if necessary.
“All options are on the table,” Ms. Groh-Wargo said, adding that any resolution of the election could take weeks or longer.
Meanwhile in Wisconsin, Republican Scott Walker
appeared to lose his race for a third term, but he hadn’t conceded defeat. Gov. Walker lost to Wisconsin Secretary of Education Tony Evers, according to the Associated Press.
As of 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, with more than 99% of precincts reporting, Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State Brian Kemp led Ms. Abrams by about 67,000 votes out of about 3.9 million cast, according to unofficial results from Mr. Kemp’s office. That gave him 50.40% of the vote and Ms. Abrams 48.66%. A third candidate, Libertarian Ted Metz, had 0.94%.
Under Georgia law, candidates in a general election must win more than 50% of the vote or the top two vote-getters must campaign in a runoff.
Ms. Abrams told supporters at her election night gathering in Atlanta that she wasn’t conceding.
“You’re going to have a chance to do a do-over,” she told voters.
Mr. Kemp, speaking to supporters in Athens, Ga., early Wednesday morning said, “There are votes left to count, but we have a very strong lead... The math is on our side to win this election.”
A Kemp spokesman didn’t return calls or texts for comment Wednesday morning.
Counties must certify their results by Nov. 13 and the secretary of state’s office must certify the statewide totals by Nov. 20, according to a spokesman at the secretary of state’s office.
Election 2018
Ms. Abrams, 44 years old, a former minority leader in the state House, and Mr. Kemp, 54,
battled each other over accusations of voter suppression and voter fraud for years, before either declared their candidacy for governor. During the campaign, Ms. Abrams repeatedly accused Mr. Kemp of trying to suppress minority voting, which he denied. Mr. Kemp accused her of trying to loosen voting rules so illegal immigrants might vote, a charge Ms. Abrams denied.
Mr. Kemp drew support from Republican leaders, including President Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and outgoing Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, who faces term limits.
Despite allegations of voter suppression, Georgia’s active voter registrations have increased in recent years. An automatic voter-registration change on a state driver’s license form has brought in hundreds of thousands of new potential voters since 2016,
The Wall Street Journal reported.
In Wisconsin, Gov. Walker’s aides told supporters early Wednesday to expect a long fight and cited some damaged ballots that needed to be assessed.
The Walker campaign didn’t respond to a request for comment Wednesday morning.
Late in the race, Gov. Walker, who embraced President Trump after challenging him for the GOP nomination in 2016, said he would support increasing state funding for education, matching a proposal Mr. Evers, the state’s schools superintendent, made this summer. He also issued a statement reassuring voters that he supports requiring health insurers to cover people with pre-existing conditions.
Mr. Evers has argued for rolling back Act 10, Gov. Walker’s signature bill that curbed union rights for state employees, as well as phasing out the state’s school voucher program. But both proposals appeared unlikely to succeed after the GOP maintained its control of both houses of the state legislature.
Huge state incentives
Gov. Walker granted to Foxconn, a Taiwanese supplier to
Apple Computer Inc., also emerged as a campaign issue.
Gov. Walker’s bid for a third term had been rated a tossup, despite the state’s thriving economy and 3% unemployment rate, below the national average of 3.7%.
Supporters of Gov. Walker watched election results in a Pewaukee hotel for hours, booing when Democrat Tony Evers pulled ahead by a few thousand votes and hooting and hollering when the vote count seemed to swing back in Mr. Walker’s favor.
In the early hours of Wednesday, Gov. Walker’s campaign aides told supporters that the race was too close to call despite unofficial results showing that he had lost by more than the 1% margin that would allow a losing candidate to request a recount, the AP reported.
Voter turnout was the highest on record for a midterm election at just over 57 percent, according to Reid Magney, the public information officer for the Wisconsin Elections Commission. Mr. Evers led by about 31,000 votes with the unofficial counting mostly complete, according to the AP.
—Kris Maher contributed to this article.
Write to Cameron McWhirter at
cameron.mcwhirter@wsj.com
