ATLANTA (CN) - The exceedingly tight race to be the next governor of Georgia entered its final day embroiled in controversy Monday, after Republican candidate and current Secretary of State Brian Kemp accused Democrats of trying to hack the state’s voter registration system.
Kemp made the unsupported allegations on Sunday, asking the U.S. Justice Department to investigate the matter. Pressed for details on the campaign trail, Kemp said the situation was brought to his attention by an unnamed citizen and he refused to back down.
"I'm simply doing my job," he said Monday.
But his Democratic opponent, Stacey Abrams, said Kemp is making a baseless accusation to deflect attention from an apparently severe security flaw in the system he is responsible for overseeing.
Over 2 million votes have already been counted in the high-profile race which could end with the election of the first black, female governor in U.S. history. According to RealClearPolitics, Kemp is currently polling slightly ahead of Abrams, by 2.8 percent, but that's well within the margin of error of the most reliable polls and the race is considered a tossup.
As of Monday afternoon, the election analysis website FiveThirtyEight forecast that Kemp is likely to receive 50.6 percent of the vote, compared to Abrams' 48.3 percent share.
If neither candidate is able to secure more than 50 percent of the vote Tuesday evening, the race will head to a December 4 runoff.
But neither candidate, nor their respective political parties, want the race to come to that.
In recent days a number of political heavyweights and celebrities have visited the state to stump for the candidates.
Both President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have headlined rallied to gin up support for Kemp, whileAbrams has received in-person support from former President Barack Obama, former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, and a number of celebrities, including Oprah Winfrey.
On Sunday, Trump called the election "one of the most important elections of our lifetime" and heartily endorsed Kemp, saying that candidate would "protect your jobs, defend your borders, fight for your values and continue to make America great again."
On Friday, former President Obama attended a rally with Abrams at Morehouse College's Forbes Arena in Atlanta.
Obama told the crowd that America is at a "crossroads" and assured them that Abrams would help get the country back on track.
"The healthcare of millions of people are on the ballot. Making sure that working families get a fair shake is on the ballot. But maybe most of all the character of our country is on the ballot," Obama said.
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, independent political campaign committees and advocacy groups have dumped $17 million into Georgia races this year, using much of the money to pay for online ads and mailers and to help coordinate volunteers for canvassing.
These include Planned Parenthood, the National Rifle Association and the National Association of Realtors.
Campaign finance disclosures revealed that the Georgia Republican and Democratic parties have raised a combined $34 million this year. Kemp and Abrams have raised a combined total of $43 million themselves.
By comparison, in 2016, the state Republican party raised $4 million and the Democratic party raised just $3.1 million.
While Kemp has managed to raise the majority of his money from sources in Georgia, Abrams has done the majority of her fundraising out of state.