Georgia Sixth Goes To Runoff Amid ‘Computer Issues’ At The Polls

Patrick Howley   |  

Apr 19, 2017

Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff, 30, failed to win the Georgia Sixth District congressional election outright Tuesday night, and will head to a June runoff with Republican runner-up Karen Handel.

With 84 percent of the precincts reporting, Ossoff stood with 48.6 percent of the vote. The seventeen other candidates, including eleven Republicans, combined to keep Ossoff from winning 50 percent and taking the seat. Ossoff is the favorite of the national media, Hollywood celebrities, and progressive activists determined to #flipthesixth by taking the seat out of Republican hands. President Trump badgered Ossoff throughout the day Tuesday.

Election-night polling irregularities are flowing in, specifically from Fulton County — where Ossoff’s Roswell office is based

A “data error” in Fulton County necessitated a hand count of approximately 55,000 votes, which complicated matters at just the point when Ossoff began slipping.

Ossoff’s race has seen stolen voting machines that were missing for days and had to be “de-activated” by the Georgia Secretary of State.

Reports out of the Georgia Sixth District show “computer issues” and late poll workers influencing polling places to stay open later.

The polling places where hours were extended, in part due to late-arriving poll workers, were located in Fulton County, where Ossoff held 48.7 percent of the vote as of press time (down from 55.3 percent of the vote when the data error was first reported).

Though Ossoff’s campaign is based in Roswell, in Fulton County, the millennial candidate actually lives outside of the district, near Emory University with his medical student girlfriend.

Democrats hobnobbing at Ossoff’s viewing party realized that they will not see their man win the seat outright on Tuesday night. Ossoff taunted Handel in his Tuesday night speech, telling her, “Bring it on.”