LIVE UPDATES

Georgia Senate elections live updates: Jon Ossoff projected to win Ga. Senate seat

The projected win cements Democrats' control of the Senate.

ABC News projected early Wednesday that Rev. Raphael Warnock will win the race against Kelly Loeffler and on Wednesday afternoon that Jon Ossoff is projected to defeat David Perdue. Together, the two projected wins hand Democrats control of the Senate.

For live updates on the vote totals, click here.


0

Warnock's lead now too big for Loeffler to request recount

Warnock's edge over Loeffler continued to grow Wednesday morning and is now too big for the incumbent Republican senator to request a recount.

Warnock currently leads by 53,430 votes, which is a margin of 1.2% of all votes cast in the race.

ABC News projected just before 2 a.m. ET that Warnock will win.

-ABC News' Quinn Scanlan


Ossoff's edge over Perdue grows to more than 16,000 votes

Ossoff's edge over Perdue has grown significantly, with votes coming in from the Democratic stronghold of DeKalb County. But that margin is still within recount territory.

With 98% of the expected vote reporting, Ossoff leads with 50.2% -- 2,208,717 ballots -- while Perdue trails behind with 49.8% -- 2,192,347 ballots.

Ossoff's lead of 16,370 votes is now greater than that of President-elect Joe Biden's over President Donald Trump in Georgia (11,779 votes).

The margin is currently 0.4%, and if it remains less than 0.5%, Perdue would be entitled to request a machine recount after the results are certified.

-ABC News' Quinn Scanlan


Perdue campaign says race is 'exceptionally close'

Perdue's campaign team released a statement early Wednesday, saying the race is "exceptionally close" but that they believe the incumbent Republican senator "will be victorious."

"As we've said repeatedly over the last several weeks and as recently as this evening, this is an exceptionally close election that will require time and transparency to be certain the results are fair and accurate and the voices of Georgians are heard," the Perdue campaign said. "We will mobilize every available resource and exhaust every legal recourse to ensure all legally cast ballots are properly counted. We believe in the end, Senator Perdue will be victorious."

The race between Perdue and his Democratic challenger, Ossoff, is too close to call as votes are still being tallied.

-ABC News' Quinn Scanlan


Ossoff campaign releases statement projecting confidence

Ossoff’s campaign manager, Ellen Foster, released a statement early Wednesday saying that when all the votes are counted, their team "fully" expects Ossoff will win his Senate runoff against Perdue.

"The outstanding vote is squarely in parts of the state where Jon’s performance has been dominant," Foster said. "We look forward to seeing the process through in the coming hours and moving ahead so Jon can start fighting for all Georgians in the U.S. Senate."

If Democrats win both Senate seats in Georgia, each party will have 50 senators, and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will be the tie-breaking vote for Democrats in the Senate.

-ABC News' Quinn Scanlan


Here are Georgia's election certification deadlines

Walter Jones, a spokesperson for the Georgia secretary of state’s office, shared certification deadline information with ABC News Wednesday for the runoff elections.

If Ossoff wins, and the results aren't certified until the deadlines below, then President-elect Joe Biden won't have a majority in the Senate until a few days after his inauguration.

If the results are certified and the Democrats are seated before Biden takes office, Democrats won't have a majority until he's inaugurated because they need Vice President-elect Kamala Harris as the tie-breaking vote.

The deadlines are as follows.

Friday, Jan. 8: The deadline to cure rejected absentee ballots, deadline to verify provisional ballots (if voters lacked photo ID), and deadline for receiving military/overseas ballots postmarked by Election Day.

Friday, Jan. 15: The deadline for counties to certify election results (though this could happen sooner if everything is ready).

Friday, Jan. 22: The deadline for the secretary of state to certify election results (this also could happen sooner if everything is ready).

The deadline for a campaign to request a recount if the margin is less than 0.5% is two business days after the secretary certifies the election. If the secretary does this on Jan. 22, then a campaign would have until Tuesday, Jan. 26 at 5 p.m. to put in the request.

Georgia code says the secretary delivers the vote totals to the governor who issues a certificate of election to the winners

-ABC News’ Quinn Scanlan