On Wednesday, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced there would be a manual recount of all ballots cast in the presidential race. At the moment, former Vice President Joe Biden leads President Donald Trump by just over 14,000 votes.
“With the margin being so close, it will require a full, by-hand recount in each county,” Raffensperger told the press. “This will help build confidence. It will be an audit, a recount and a recanvass all at once. It will be a heavy lift but we will work with the counties to get this done in time for our state certification.” The state must certify its election results by November 20.
Georgia, which grants 16 electoral votes to the winner, has counted almost five million votes cast in the presidential race so far.
The recount will address every paper ballot, which Raffensperger said are available for the first time in 18 years. In response to reporters’ questions, he said “We follow a process and we understand the significance of this for not just Georgia but for every single American. At the end of the day we do a hand count, and we can answer the question exactly what was the final margin in this race.”
As of Wednesday, other vote tallies in key battleground states still show Biden ahead by a little under 13,000 votes in Arizona, up by 50,000 in Pennsylvania, and behind by 73,000 in North Carolina.
A lawsuit in Georgia filed by the Trump campaign alleging the mixing of valid and invalid absentee ballots was rejected by a state judge. Election fraud lawsuits continue in Pennsylvania and Michigan, and United States Attorney General William Barr has authorized federal prosecutors to look into credible allegations of voter fraud wherever they are raised.
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