The final weekend: What to know as WH race nears photo finish
Harris, Trump enter final weekend of campaigning
Georgia is back in the national spotlight in the final days of this unprecedented campaign for the White House, with the state expected to come down to the wire on Tuesday.
As the race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump nears a photo finish, both candidates are making a last-minute push to energize supporters in a battle likely to be decided by which party has the best turnout operation.
Here is a quick look at what to know as we enter this uncertain weekend.
Early voting to wrap up Friday
Friday is your last chance to cast your ballot before election day, with the state set to wrap up three weeks of advanced in-person voting by the close of business.
Early voting continues to break record after record, with more than three and a half million votes already cast in the battleground state as of Friday morning. Because Friday is the final day to vote early, election officials are expecting it to be one of the busiest days, especially in highly-populated counties around metro Atlanta.
Voters can vote anywhere in their county during early voting. But if you decide to wait and vote on election day, you must make sure that you know where your assigned voting location is.
Harris, Trump coming back to Georgia
Both presidential nominees are making one final return to Georgia ahead of election day.
Kamala Harris will be back on Saturday for her third Peach State stop in roughly two weeks. Her last visit was a rally in solidly Democratic DeKalb County co-headlined by former President Barack Obama.
Donald Trump will also be back this weekend for a campaign stop in central Georgia after several stops across the metro area, from a rally in Downtown Atlanta to a gathering of conservative activists in Gwinnett County.
Time may be running out, but the candidates could try to squeeze in one last Georgia stop before election day: the AJC suggests that Harris, for instance, could return on Monday for an election-eve swing state push.
Final polls show GA up for grabs
If it seems like the candidates are spending an awful lot of time in Georgia, it might be because the race remains too close to call
CNN’s final poll of Georgia finds them in a statistical tie, with just one percentage point separating the two. Other polls out this week have produced similarly tied results, with maybe the slightest edge to Trump.
But an average of recent polling finds the Republican nominee in the driver’s seat: he leads Harris by roughly two points in FiveThirtyEight’s Georgia polling average.
Election chief says he’ll uphold the results
Georgia’s top election official says he will uphold the results of the presidential election no matter who wins, but his office nevertheless finds itself preparing for a losing candidate to dispute the results.
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, was under enormous pressure from Trump and his allies to invalidate the results of the 2020 election. Officials and workers, including the Secretary himself, were forced to increase security and even relocate after facing threats of harm.
Despite the uncertain climate, Sec. Raffensperger says he stands “ready to defend the results of the election.” He also continues to praise the record-breaking early voting numbers: “We know it’s easy to cast a ballot, and we know it’s hard to cheat,” he said.
But his office is also warning the state to prepare for the losing candidate to challenge the results in court: “If Vice President Harris wins, we expect Trump officials to sue us,” said election operator Gabriel Sterling. “If President Trump wins, we expect Harris officials to sue us. We’re seeing some of the things they are kind of claiming from previous lawsuits in trying to lay a foundation.”