Atlanta | Voters in Georgia were able to start voting early on Monday for the two byelections to the US Senate on January 5, with control of the upper house of Congress at stake, which will decide the balance of power in Washington.
The Democrats must imperatively win these two seats to return to a tie at 50 seats against the Republicans, for the moment in the majority. Because in the event of 50/50 in the Senate, it is the future vice-president Kamala Harris who, as the Constitution wants it, will decide the votes.
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None of the candidates having obtained more than 50% of the votes in the ballot on November 3, the voters of this state in the south-east of the country are again called to the polls for this poll set for January 5.
“Today is the first day of the early voting, so put your Georgia shoes on, and go vote,” Democratic candidate Raphael Warnock, who faces Republican Kelly Loeffler, said on Twitter.
This black pastor, who officiates in the former church of Martin Luther King in Atlanta, had surprised by beating the outgoing senator by more than 300,000 votes. A staunch supporter of Donald Trump, Ms. Loeffler, however, suffered from competition from another Republican.
In the other ballot, former investigative journalist Jon Ossoff almost tied the knot (88,000 votes behind) with outgoing David Perdue, suspected of having taken advantage of confidential information at the start of the coronavirus pandemic to speculate on the stock market.
On paper, Republicans come out on top, but Democrats rely on a now younger and more diverse electorate in Georgia. They are also galvanized by the victory of Joe Biden in this state which had not voted for a presidential candidate of their party since 1992.
Mr. Biden goes to Atlanta on Tuesday evening to support the two Democratic candidates.
The two Republican candidates, who claim to be a “firewall to socialism” according to them advocated by their opponents, denounced Monday the lack of “transparency” of the authorities who have not made public the list of new voters for this election, considering that this threatened the “integrity” of the vote.
For his first meeting since the presidential election, Donald Trump traveled to Georgia on December 5 to support the two Republicans.
There was again denounced a presidential election “rigged” in favor of Joe Biden, who had won the 16 major voters in the state with less than 13,000 votes in advance.
But the results have been verified and certified, despite legal appeals from the presidential camp, and the electoral college must formally give victory to Joe Biden on Monday.
Some Republicans are also worried about the collateral damage that could be caused by Donald Trump’s desperate crusade against his defeat, which could push his voters to abstain out of mistrust of the American electoral system.