Stacy Hall has conceded the State Senate District 50 race to Cornelia attorney Bo Hatchett.
“I called Bo earlier this evening and congratulated him on a hard-fought race and offered my support from him moving forward,” Hall said Monday night.
In Banks County, Hall lost a vote in the recount, but in Franklin County he picked up two, according to unofficial numbers.
“It just goes to show that all the votes aren’t always counted on election night,” Hall said. “That’s why we went through the process. We just wanted to be sure. When there’s an election that close – we’re talking about nearly 25,000 votes cast and only at that time 37 votes difference, it’s important to go through the process, which is what we did.”
Hall said he felt obligated to request the recount after the narrow margin of victory for Hatchett.
“We went through the legal process,” Hall said. “We requested a recount when we were supposed to, and the elections offices did a good job going through that. At the end of the day now, all of us have confidence in counting the votes that were cast.”
Hall said issues were raised in at least one county following the runoff, and that the state will be examining those.
“There were a number of issues in Stephens County that I think the secretary of state will be investigating,” Hall said.
Elections offices in eight Northeast Georgia counties conducted recounts Monday in the Georgia Senate District 50 and there were some gains and losses for each candidate, but the overall outcome had not been announced Monday night.
Elections supervisors in Habersham, Rabun and Stephens counties reported no change in vote totals as a result of the recount.
District 50 is made up of all or part of the following counties: Banks, Franklin, Habersham, Hall, Jackson, Rabun, Stephens and Towns.
AccessWDUN reached out to Hatchett, but did not immediately receive a response. His comments will be included once received.
