Both Georgia Senate races will advance to runoffs because no single candidate in either race reached the required 50% threshold for an outright win, the New York Times reports.  The runoffs will occur January 5th, one day before the Senate is seated for the next session of Congress.

The “jungle primary” which had more than 20 candidates in it for the seat currently held by republican appointee Kelly Loeffler finished with Rev. Raphael Warnock finishing on top with 32.9% of the vote.  Loeffler finished second with 26%.  Those two will face off in the general election.

In the other race, incumbent republican Senator David Perdue failed to reach 50% of the vote, getting only 49.8% of the vote.  His opponent, Democrat Jon Ossoff, earned 47.9% of the vote.

From Katie Glueck in Wilmington, Delaware for the New York Times:

(7:00 p.m.)  Biden had planned to address the nation tonight, but there are indications he may well not do so until the race is called. Things are fluid here in Wilmington!

(7:57 p.m.)  People familiar with the Biden campaign’s thinking say he may speak tonight even if the race isn’t called, but the tone will be shaped by the results that are in. Things are still fluid.

Now only call them with serious tips. Definitely don’t tell them something like you saw a Chinese submarine crew deliver 20,000 fake absentee ballots for Biden to Adak, Alaska in the Western Aleutian Islands, and that they’re all fake postmarked as November 2nd, because they might send one of their lawyers 4,523 miles from Washington to investigate. That would be terrible.

The US Supreme Court ruled against the republican Party and the Trump administration that Pennsylvania officials can count the ballots that were received from 5 p.m. on Election Day through Friday, instructing state election officials to continue to segregate those ballots even after counting them, MSNBC reports.

Justice Samuel Alito issued the directive Friday evening, saying that he was referring the issue to the entire Supreme Court for consideration.  The Court had previously refused to hear a similar case brought by the Trump campaign.

Pennsylvania allowed voters to submit ballots by mail, so long as they were postmarked by Tuesday, November 3rd and received by election officials by Friday at 5 p.m.  The Trump campaign argued that any votes received after the polls closed on Election Day were illegal ballots and should not be included in the vote count.

NBC News: “The elections director of Georgia’s most populous county said Friday he expects officials will upload their final 4,600 ballots before the end of the night — despite online trolls robbing him of the services of one of his fastest workers. Fulton County Elections Director Richard Barron told reporters he expects the country’s final 3,800 provisional ballots and over 800 overseas and military ballots will be added to the state’s vote tally before midnight.”

“He added the work was being done without one of his most dependable employees. The man started getting threats after video of him throwing out a piece of paper went viral on Twitter and Facebook, where he was accused of being ‘corrupt’ and throwing out ballots. Barron said the accusation was ‘undeniably false’ — the worker had thrown out an instruction sheet a voter had mistakenly included with their ballot, which is a piece of paper that’s much smaller than the 19-inch ballots. He said the worker’s name, address and even information about his car was circulating online by people accusing him of ‘fraud’ forcing him into hiding.”

At poll counting locations in five contested states, supporters of incumbent republican presidential candidate Donald Trump have variously shouted to stop the tabulations or to continue them, unclear on which option would benefit their candidate.

According to the Associated Press, some of the protesters carried weapons.  Others called for the poll workers to be arrested, apparently unaware that they’re counting ballots, not working at polling places.  Poll workers are apolitical civil servants doing a public duty.

Others carried signs demanding, “Stop the Steal!” in an effort to prevent legally-submitted ballots to being counted.  Other signs said “Make Elections Fair Again” and “We Love Trump.”

“The GOP member of a vote review panel in Gwinnett, Georgia repeatedly argued Friday that write-in ballots for Mike Pence as president should count for Donald Trump, the group’s Democratic representative tells me. The GOP panel member objected 5 to 6 times when write-in ballots for Pence were brought before the group, claiming those voters intended to vote for the ‘Trump-Pence’ ticket, and therefore they should count for Trump” reports CNN’s Zach Cohen.

“The argument was overruled each time, this person said. This source also tells me the GOP review panel member in question was brought in during Friday’s session to replace the original person who was serving as the party’s representative. They called the swap ‘disconcerting’.”

Lisa Gordon-Hagerty, the head of U.S. Energy Department’s National Nuclear Security Administration, the agency responsible for overseeing the nation’s nuclear stockpile, has handed in her resignation Friday, Reuters reports.

The resignation was effective immediately and was submitted without a specified reason.  She had served in the positions since February 2018.  William Bookless is now serving as NNSA’s acting administrator.

Joe Biden should not wrongfully claim the office of the President. I could make that claim also. Legal proceedings are just now beginning!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2020

Democratic Congressional candidate Carolyn Bourdeaux won her race for the Georgia 7th District, an open seat which had been held by republicans since 1995, the New York Times reports.

Bourdeaux had attempted to win the seat, currently held by republican Rob Woodall, twice before, losing the 2018 race by just 500 votes.  Woodall was head of the influential republican Study Committee, but he was increasing unpopular in the suburban district due to his support of Donald Trump and his opposition to women’s health issues.

A college professor, Bourdeaux defeated Rich McCormick, a former Marine helicopter and an emergency medicine doctor.

CNN: “While President Donald Trump’s legal strategy to challenge the election results is being shaped at the highest levels by familiar, experienced hands, his legal team on the ground hasn’t seen the involvement of a top-tier team of the caliber George W. Bush had during the 2000 Florida recount. And as former Vice President Joe Biden’s lead has come into focus in recent days, Trump has been asking why his legal team doesn’t seem more put together, suggesting he doesn’t believe they are up to the task of defending him in the courts and asking for his team to find better lawyers, according to one person who has spoken to him.”

“The public-facing effort has been headed by Rudy Giuliani and former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, Trump loyalists whose credibility has been diminished among the type of elite legal talent that a presidential campaign might turn to during an election challenge. On the legal team, Trump’s efforts to contest election results in states such as Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia and Michigan have been guided by lawyers who have been by the President’s side for years, including Jay Sekulow, the conservative lawyer who helped lead Trump’s defense in special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election, and is helping to orchestrate some of the legal challenges filed in Pennsylvania. Also involved is William Consovoy, who has spearheaded Trump’s long-running — and thus far successful — effort to block access to his financial records as part of a criminal investigation by the Manhattan district attorney. ‘What a campaign needs to do to staff one statewide recount, let alone multiple recounts, is overwhelming,’ said Benjamin Ginsberg, a top Republican election lawyer who served as national counsel to Bush’s campaigns.”

“Biden has expanded his lead in Georgia, according to newly released tallies. He’s now ahead of Trump by 4,235 votes in the state, according to AP’s results. Gwinnett County, outside Atlanta, is breaking heavily for Biden as part of the new counts, with the votes going more than 2-to-1 in his favor” – Bloomberg.

The time to STAND UP for @realDonaldTrump is RIGHT NOW!

Republicans can’t back down.

This loser mindset is how the Democrats win.

President Trump has fought for us, we have to fight for him.

We won’t forget. Trust me. https://t.co/rN83otNxZd

— Marjorie Taylor Greene 🇺🇸 (@mtgreenee) November 6, 2020

The Philadelphia Fashion District, a mall adjacent to the Philadelphia Convention Center where vote tallying is happening, was evacuated Friday afternoon when a bomb threat was received, KYW NBC-3 News reports.

Security at the Fashion District received two calls Friday claiming a bomb was hidden in the mall, prompting police to clear the area.  Ballot counting at the convention center was not interrupted.

A K-9 sweep of mall and the surrounding area found no evidence of an explosive device, and people were allowed back into the area within hours.

This is the second terrorist threat caught by law enforcement against the vote tallying center at the Philadelphia Convention Center.  Earlier Friday, two heavily-armed QAnon supporters from Virginia were taken into custody outside the convention center.

Anticipating an increasing demand as states and localities re-implement stay-at-home orders as coronavirus cases spike around the nation, many of the nation’s supermarket chains are reinstituting limits on purchases of toilet paper and other products, CNN reports.

Kroger, Giant Food and H-E-B stores continue to have supply chain problems for toilet paper, paper towels, disinfecting wipes and hand sanitizer.  These products are highly sought after as coronavirus spikes and flu season approaches.

Per CNN, around 19% of paper products such as toilet paper and paper towels and 16% of household cleaning products were out of stock during the week ending November 1, according to data from market research firm IRI.

Data aggregator worldometers.info reports that the United States has exceeded 10,000,000 coronavirus cases on Friday, three days after Election Day when incumbent republican presidential candidate Donald Trump claimed there would be no more media coverage of the virus.

While the US has about 4% of the world’s population, it has about 25% of the world’s coronavirus cases.  It’s also not just a result of testing:  according to worldometers, the number of “serious” patients also surpassed 18,000.

With Democrats forecast to keep the majority in the House of Representative, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announced that she would seek the speakership again in the next session, Politico reports.

Democrats lost at least a net of five seats in the election which saw record turnout, leading to potential pushback against having the 80-year-old Californian leading the caucus.  However, Pelosi has shown a remarkable ability to maintain discipline within Democrats, including during negotiations for a second coronavirus relief bill.

“Our vision for the next two years must be built on the success of Democratic House Majority in the 116th Congress, and to harness the extraordinary visions, values and vibrancy of our Caucus to secure the progress that the American people deserve,” Pelosi wrote to her Democratic colleagues. 

“Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) said Friday that half the country will not accept the outcome of the presidential election if Democrat Joe Biden wins. Johnson, a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump, also refused to say if he thought the election was legitimate, while admitting he had no proof of any illegal activity. ‘It’s very unfortunate that no matter who wins, the other half of America is not going to view this as a particularly legitimate election,’ Johnson said on WTMJ-AM.”

“‘That’s a real problem. I’m not saying it’s legitimate or not. I’m saying this process has been set up where people are not going to view it as legitimate. And that’s a real problem.’ Johnson said there has ‘always been some voter fraud that the mainstream media and unfortunately, many officials just simply ignore.’ He offered no examples and his spokesman did not immediately respond when asked to provide some. ‘I’m not alleging anything because I have no proof,’ Johnson said. ‘All I’m saying is there are enough irregularities’ to raise concerns” – AP.

NBC News reports that the Trump campaign has again submitted a motion to the US Supreme Court calling on SCOTUS to order Pennsylvania to stop the count of votes that were received by election boards after the closing of the polls on November 3rd.

The Trump campaign has attempted to stop vote counting in the state in various lawsuits both on the state and federal level.  Each lawsuit has failed.

This motion moves to stop the inclusion of ballots received after the closing of the polls in Pennsylvania at 8 p.m. ET on Tuesday, November 3rd.  The Trump campaign claims that these votes are invalid because they came in after the close of the polls, even though they were mailed on or before Election Day.

“A group of Republicans in Wisconsin has desperately sought volunteers to call supporters of President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania and urge them to mail in absentee ballots by Friday — even as the president himself rails against late votes and the ongoing vote count. Only votes cast by Nov. 3 are legal according to Pennsylvania and federal election laws. Trump himself has described any effort to vote after Tuesday as clear election fraud.”

“The group, which involves Republicans in Kenosha, appeared to be trying to take advantage of an effort by Pennsylvania to count all absentee votes mailed by Nov. 3 even if received up to three days later. Under a federal court ruling upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, absentee ballots received by 5 p.m. Friday can be counted in Pennsylvania. That ruling said ballots received by that point without postmarks, or with illegible postmarks, will be considered to have been mailed in time ‘unless a preponderance of the evidence demonstrates that it was mailed after Election Day.’ An email obtained by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel sent at 5:19 p.m. Thursday by Kenosha for Trump is headlined ‘Volunteers Urgently Needed.’ It reads: ‘Trump Victory urgently needs volunteers to make phone calls to Pennsylvania Trump supporters to return their absentee ballots. These phone calls will help President Trump win the election!'” – Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.