Counting in the southern state of Georgia is down to wire with 61,367 ballots outstanding, and it could deliver the Democrats a major upset if Joe Biden closes the 0.4 per cent gap to finish ahead of President Donald Trump.
The “Peach State” has not voted for a Democratic president since 1992 when Bill Clinton won it against George Bush.
Mr Trump won Georgia in 2016 against Hillary Clinton by more than 200,000 votes, but this time the state could slip away from the Republicans as the margin between the candidates shrinks to fewer than 15,000 votes.
Mr Trump leads by 49.6 per cent to Mr Biden’s 49.3 per cent, but the Democrats are hoping the absentee ballot could make up the difference.
If Mr Biden wins the state, it would be partly due to significant African-American turnout, especially in the early vote, and show a new Democratic strength in the south.
Georgia’s 16 electoral votes would put Mr Biden at 269, just one short of winning the presidency.
Such a win would ultimately narrow Mr Trump’s path significantly for the 270 electoral votes.
He would have to win all of the remaining states in Pennsylvania, Arizona and Nevada.
But if Mr Trump were to prevail, it would assuage Republican fears over their party’s standing in the deep south and could reinvigorate his chances if he won in Pennsylvania and the other undeclared states.
Georgia also holds critical importance in the Senate, with two races.
The winners, according to the state laws, must secure 50 per cent of the vote or face a runoff.
Senator David Perdue, the Republican incumbent, is barely holding at the 50 per cent margin against Jon Ossoff, who is at 47.7 per cent.
The other race between Democrat Raphael Warnock and Republican incumbent Kelly Loeffler is already heading to a runoff in January.
This could mean that the Senate control in the next Congress will not be decided until then.
Georgia’s state officials are expecting to have all their counts finished by the end of Thursday.
Earlier, a judge in the state dismissed a lawsuit by the Trump campaign to ensure that one of the counties was following state laws on processing absentee ballots.
