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ATLANTA – After six days of manual vote counting, the Georgia secretary of state’s office confirmed Thursday that U.S. President-elect Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump in the state, which has long been considered a Republican stronghold.
The Trump campaign asked Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, for a full recount a week after Election Day. Raffensperger announced shortly after that all 159 counties would participate in a “risk limitation audit” that would include a manual count. The audit of nearly five million votes was completed on Thursday.
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Although the result was an expected conclusion, the recount came amid mounting tension over the election result. The New York Times and other American outlets announced Biden’s winner in Georgia last week. But Trump raised unsubstantiated allegations of fraud, and his allies, especially Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, Republicans facing tough second-round contests in the state in January, discredited Raffensperger and accused him of mismanaging the election.
The audit process revealed some significant gaps in the first count, with four counties – Floyd, Fayette, Walton, and Douglas – discovering votes during the audit that were not part of the original count. Trump won Floyd, Fayette, and Walton counties; Mr. Biden won in Douglas County.
On Thursday, the Floyd County Board of Elections voted unanimously to fire its Chief Election Clerk, Robert Brady, according to Council Member Melanie Conrad. Brady was fired after officials found 2,600 ballots that were not counted prior to the county’s initial ballot certification.
Most counties saw only small changes in their counts, with vote count totals differing by single digits. Patrick Moore, an attorney for Biden’s campaign, predicted Wednesday that the results would show that “the president-elect has beaten the state of Georgia.”
The state has until Friday to certify the outcome of the election. The Trump campaign then has two business days to request a second recount, which would be done with high-speed scanners.
