Vernon Jones, a former Democratic state representative who switched parties to support President Donald Trump, has announced his candidacy for Georgia's secretary of state.

Gabriel Sterling, known for defending Georgia's 2020 election results, is running for the state's secretary of state.

The Georgia secretary of state's office said it acted quickly earlier this month to thwart an attempt to flood the state’s absentee voter portal in an apparent attempt to crash the site.

Republican officials who believe in the legitimacy of elections have formed a group that's pushing back on the election lies and conspiracy theories that have persuaded a large share of their party that elections can't be trusted.

Georgia's two Senate runoff elections on Tuesday will determine which party controls the U.S. Senate. ___HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE GEORGIA SENATE ELECTIONSGeorgia’s two Senate runoff elections Tuesday will determine which party controls the U.S. Senate. Democrats need to win both of Georgia’s Senate runoff elections to claim the Senate majority. Georgia’s two Senate runoff elections on Tuesday will determine which party controls the U.S. Senate. Georgians are voting on two Senate runoff elections that will determine control of the U.S. Senate.

According to a tweet from the governor, Trump also asked him to order an audit of absentee ballots from the presidential race in his state. Trump on Sunday tweeted more unproved allegations that Georgia’s election was fraudulent, blaming Kemp and Duncan for inaction. Signature verification & call a Special Session. State lawmakers could call a special session on their own, but only if 60% of members in both houses of the General Assembly demanded a session in writing. “I don’t believe that there’s the will in the General Assembly for a special session,” Raffensperger said.

Republicans are zeroing in on a plan to require a photo ID for ballots cast by mail. Brian Kemp, both Republicans who have been publicly lambasted by Trump, have joined the push to require a photo ID for absentee voting. She said that while signature matches provide some security for mail-in ballots, the process should be shored up. Democrats and voting rights groups have for years sought to decrease rejections of absentee ballots in Georgia, arguing that minorities have been disproportionately affected. Absentee ballots are sometimes rejected because signatures on the outer envelope are deemed not to match signatures in the voter registration system, or because the envelope is not signed at all.

In this Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2020 photo, Gabriel Sterling a top Georgia elections official stands during a news conference, in Atlanta. On Tuesday Dec. 1, 2020, Sterling called on President Donald Trump to condemn supporters who have threatened violence against election officials. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)ATLANTA – A top Georgia elections official on Tuesday lashed out angrily at the rhetoric surrounding the election and the threats of violence that have resulted, specifically calling on President Donald Trump to rein in his supporters. “Rigged Election,” Trump tweeted. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler both issued statements Tuesday evening condemning violence but also criticizing election officials, according to news outlets.

ATLANTA – Georgia's top elections official announced investigations Monday into potential violations of election law even as he defended the integrity of the state's election against what he's said are baseless attacks. President Donald Trump, who narrowly lost to Democrat Joe Biden in Georgia, is among those criticizing the state's handling of the election. A sworn statement from a Republican official in Gwinnett County, in Atlanta's suburbs, says there were more absentee ballots than absentee ballot envelopes, Sterling said. Also Monday, a lawyer for Trump sent a letter to Raffensperger requesting an audit of signatures on absentee ballot applications and envelopes in the November election. Signatures on absentee ballot envelopes must be verified against signatures on file when they’re received.

Officials sort ballots during an audit at the Georgia World Congress Center on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2020, in Atlanta. The complete hand recount stemmed from an audit required by a new state law and wasn’t in response to any suspected problems with the state’s results or an official recount request. The secretary of state’s office has until Friday at 5 p.m. to certify the election results. The AP did not call Biden the winner after election officials in Georgia initially completed and released results of the presidential election, because his margin over Trump in the state was 0.3 percentage points. Votes that hadn't previously been counted were found in several counties during the audit, which required recertification of the election results in those counties.

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said he chose the presidential race because of its significance and tight margin. Because of the close results, he said, a full hand recount would be needed to complete the audit. The actual number of rejected ballots was about 350% higher, but that matched the overall increase in absentee ballots, the release says. Two years ago, 454 absentee ballots were rejected out of 284,393. The Associated Press has not declared a winner in the presidential race in Georgia, where Biden led Trump by 0.3 percentage points.

Officials sort ballots during an audit at the Floyd County administration building in Rome, Ga. on Friday morning, Nov. 13, 2020. Election officials in Georgias 159 counties are undertaking a hand tally of the presidential race that stems from an audit required by state law. (AP Photo/Ben Gray)ATLANTA – Masked election workers in teams of two began counting ballots Friday in counties across Georgia, a hand tally of the presidential race that stems from an audit required by a new state law. Across the state, audit teams worked with batches of paper ballots, dividing them into piles for each candidate, before counting each pile by hand. But critics have accused him of caving to Trump after the president's campaign and state Republicans requested a hand recount.

ATLANTA – As Georgia counties prepare for a hand tally of the presidential race, the state's top elections official planned to quarantine after his wife tested positive for the coronavirus, his office said Thursday. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s wife, Tricia, tested positive on Thursday, the deputy secretary of state, Jordan Fuchs, told The Associated Press. An audit of one race is required by law but it's up to the secretary of state to choose the race. Sterling emphatically denied that the selection of the presidential race and subsequent decision to do a full hand count was the result of pressure from the president. Doing a hand count of the nearly 5 million votes cast in Georgia during the Nov. 3 election is a massive task.

Early voting ended Tuesday, so Zeta hasn’t disrupted any voting so far. Early voting ended Tuesday, so Zeta hasn’t disrupted any voting so far. State officials weren’t sure how many of the 336 early voting locations statewide were closed or delayed in opening. ___6:55 a.m.Officials in Georgia say high winds from Tropical Storm Zeta have caused a second death in the South. ___4:00 a.m.A tropical storm warning is in effect in Atlanta as Tropical Storm Zeta makes its way quickly toward the northeast.