Down 21,000 votes, Roy Moore says 'it's not over'

(Image credit: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images)

last updated 13 December 2017

With 100 percent of precincts in Alabama reporting and Democrat Doug Jones ahead by nearly 21,000 votes, Republican Roy Moore told his supporters to keep the faith, because "when the vote is this close, it's not over."

Moore, who during the special Senate race was accused by several women of groping them when he was in his early 30s and they were teenagers, said he had been "painted in an unfavorable and unfaithful light," and he did not concede the election. He told his supporters to go home and get some rest, and stay tuned for news about a recount.

In Alabama, there is an automatic recount when the vote is within 0.5 percent, but Jones is ahead by 1.5 percentage points. Moore might be counting on absentee ballots, but MSNBC's Steve Kornacki said those were among the first votes to be counted. It's unclear how many provisional and military ballots there are, but Kornacki estimated there are 1,000 to 1,500 outstanding. Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill told CNN he doesn't think the vote margin will change substantially before the election is certified between Dec. 26 and Jan. 3.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.