Georgia election results: When will state finish counting votes?

Peach state could throw presidency to Joe Biden

Depending on which news organisation’s call you look at, Joe Biden needs only one or two states to win the Electoral College and become president. And among the critical states waiting to be called is Georgia.

By Friday evening, the former vice president was ahead of the president by a margin of 4,395 votes, according to the Associated Press, with more than 99 per cent of the vote counted.

Advocates for both candidates rushed to find every person in the state who had submitted a flawed ballot before time ran out on Friday, in order to fix the paperwork for a race that could come down to the narrowest of margins. Their votes were initially rejected but could be fixed with a signature or an ID.

With 16 Electoral College votes, Georgia could put Mr Biden over the top by some projections. Not won by any Democrat since Bill Clinton, it has entered the toss-up column after years of dogged campaigning and demographic change, and was one of Mr Biden’s top targets this year.

The state has counted relatively slowly for the same reasons as many other states: a deluge of early votes, mail-in ballots and provisional ballots along with a surge in voter turnout.

And that wait could be much longer, with the secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, announcing on Friday there would be a recount in the state, with the margin so small. 

"With a margin that small, there will be a recount," Mr Raffensperger said.

Officials said about 9,000 military and overseas ballots were still outstanding and could be accepted if they arrive on Friday and are postmarked on Tuesday or earlier.

Follow live: US election results and updates 

Georgia officials are providing rolling updates on the count, which was originally thought to declare an outcome by Thursday night, but was delayed. 

According to the latest announcements, there were just over 4,000 ballots to be counted a first time on Friday, predominantly in Gwinnett County, before all ballots are included in a recount. 

Read more: Can Biden win the US election

Many of the remaining ballots were from counties where Mr Biden has lately gained ground, and he has also outperformed Mr Trump in absentee ballots across the country. 

While there is no law in Georgia triggering an automatic recount if the result is extremely close; officials did decide to do so on Friday. 

It would also have been possible for a candidate to request a recount if the margin is 0.5 points or less.

With the result in Georgia set to be exceptionally close, the state is unlikely to be called until all votes are recounted, which could take up to a week. 

This story is being updated