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Abrams campaign pushes for provisional ballots to be counted in continuing governor's race

Discussing their legal strategy, campaign manager Lauren Groh-Wargo said there are "no options off the table" as her side digs in their heels in the face of Kemp's declaration of victory.

It's a race that's held the spotlight in Georgia -- and the nation -- for months. Now, days after election night, the contest still isn't officially over.

Brian Kemp declared victory in the hotly-contested race for the governor's mansion earlier this week, but the Stacey Abrams camp says that's premature.

In a race where nearly 4 million votes were cast, the reason why some say it's not over boils down to a math problem.

Georgia law says an election automatically goes to a runoff if no candidate earns more than 50 percent of the vote.

As of 5:15 p.m. Friday night, the Secretary of State's Office reported that 3,922,187 votes had been cast in the gubernatorial race.

That puts the magic number currently at 1,961,094. That's the threshold Brian Kemp needs to stay above to avoid a runoff.

He's currently 13,077 votes above that figure, but the Abrams campaign believes that margin will shrink as more votes are tallied and Kemp's respective percent of the vote drops.

As results showed Stacey Abrams trailing Brian Kemp by a narrow margin into the early morning hours of election night, supporters stood by her. Days later, they still do.

"We know that Stacey Abrams is the best person for the governor's seat," said Vivian Hallmark.

Hallmark spent part of her day in the Abrams campaign's Macon field office, working the phones trying to help people who cast a provisional ballot get them verified.

"We're leaving messages because those provisional ballots may or may not be counted," she said. "We want to make sure these people had had to cast a provisional ballot can feel confident their vote was counted."

So what exactly is a provisional ballot?

Typically, it has to do with voter registration.

For example, if you go to vote and your ID doesn't exactly match the information you're registered under, you can still cast a ballot in the state of Georgia. However, that vote will typically only be counted if you come back to your election authority with proof you are who you say you are and are registered where you say you are.

Macon state Representative James Beverly says the Abrams team believes many of those provisional ballots will break for their side.

He says that tally plus what he says are tens of thousands of uncounted absentee ballots could keep the race alive.

"We believe that we have enough provisional and absentee ballots, but we'll see," said Beverly. "If we don't, so be it, but we believe we do, which is why we'll stay in this fight until the end."

The Kemp campaign rejects that.

"The math does not get them there," said Kemp campaign official Austin Chamber. "You know, losing politicians and desperate politicians do desperate things, so who knows what they're going to throw next, but we do know this: it's not going to change the outcome."

The Abrams camp is also eyeing legal options. Campaign manager Lauren Groh-Wargo says her side has already filed several legal motions and is taking "no options off the table" going forward.

So far, no one has officially called the race.

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