During the recounting, four counties discovered a few thousand votes that had not been uploaded to the state's election results initially.
Following the manual ballot recount in the state of Georgia, president-elect Joe Biden has been declared as the winner, stretching his lead to 306 electoral votes compared to 232 of the current US President, Donald Trump. With this win, Biden has become the first Democratic president elected by Georgia after Bill Clinton in 1992, reported the Associated Press.
More than two weeks after the 2020 presidential election held on November 7, Biden was declared as the winner in Georgia on Thursday evening, November 19, after the former US vice president won states Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
The Guardian reported that the officials in four counties discovered about 5,800 uncounted votes during the recount, inching Trump about 1,400 votes closer to Biden. However, this hasn't changed the final result i.e., Biden being elected as the 46th US President.
The Georgia secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, who's also a Republican, had previously told the outlet that the miscounting of votes had been due to human error, therefore, dismissing the claims of the Republicans of the elections being rigged. He said, “Georgia’s historic first statewide audit reaffirmed that the state’s new secure paper ballot voting system accurately counted and reported results.”
He added, “This is a credit to the hard work of our county and local elections officials who moved quickly to undertake and complete such a momentous task in a short period of time.”
In an email to the Associated Press, Biden's campaign spokeswoman, Jaclyn Rothenberg said, “The recount process simply reaffirmed what we already knew: Georgia voters selected Joe Biden to be their next president."
She further added, “We are grateful to the election officials, volunteers, and workers for working overtime and under unprecedented circumstances to complete this recount, as the utmost form of public service.”
According to NPR, thousands of workers had been counting each ballot after the November 3 contest in Georgia, to ensure Biden had been rightly elected by the state. Raffensperger, who was responsible for the auditing of the presidential race had previously stated that the hand recount seemed necessary because of the close margin of the votes of Biden and Trump. However, his office had noted that the results were unlikely to change.
Georgia has until Friday, November 20, to certify the results declared by the counties, following which if the margin remains under 0.5%, the losing campaign would have two business days to request for a recount.
Gabriel Sterling, who oversaw the implementation of the Georgia voting system said that the scanners would be used to recount and they would be paid for by the counties. The Guardian also revealed that according to the Associated Press and the US Elections Project, the 2020 voter turnout has been the highest in more than a century.
Trump who has been refusing to concede the race, echoed his previous doubts of the elections being a fraud on Twitter, commenting on the recounting of the votes with specific reference to Georgia.
He penned, "Almost ZERO ballots rejected in Georgia this election. In years past, close to 4%. Not possible. Must have signature check on envelopes now..." He also asked the Republicans to "get tough!"
Almost ZERO ballots rejected in Georgia this election. In years past, close to 4%. Not possible. Must have signature check on envelopes now. Very easy to do. Dems fighting because they got caught. Far more votes than needed for flip. Republicans must get tough! @BrianKempGA
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 19, 2020
References:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/nov/19/joe-biden-president-georgia-recount
