Absentee ballot counting in Georgia's most populous county delayed 4 hours after a water pipe burst
- Absentee ballot counting was delayed by four hours in Georgia's largest county on Tuesday after a water pipe burst in State Farm Arena and flooded the facility, officials told the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
- None of the ballots were damaged, according to county elections officials.
- Georgia is a critical swing state that President Donald Trump won in 2016 by just over five points and likely needs to hold this year in order to win the presidency.
Absentee ballot counting was delayed by four hours in Georgia's most populous county on Tuesday after a water pipe burst and flooded the State Farm Arena facility, officials told the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
None of the ballots were damaged, according to county elections officials.
Ralph Jones, a senior Fulton County elections manager, told the AJC that the county has scanned 86,191 of the 130,517 mail-in ballots they've gotten, but this excludes the absentee ballots that arrived on Tuesday. An elections board member said he doesn't think the county will be able to report its results until Friday.
Georgia is a critical swing state that President Donald Trump won in 2016 by just over five points and likely needs to hold this year in order to win the presidency. The state has moved to the left in recent years and seen record turnout in early voting.
The state is the only in the country to have both Senate seats up for grabs this cycle, further raising the stakes.