The certification came after the completion of the manual recount of the five million votes requested by the Trump campaign.
In another setback for US President Donald Trump, who is fighting to have his defeat overturned in the presidential election, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp certified the results of a manual vote count in his state, giving Joe Biden, the president-elect and Democratic candidate, the 16 votes of the State Electoral College.
The certification came after the conclusion Thursday of the manual recount of the five million votes requested by the Trump campaign, resulting in a 12,670-vote lead for Biden. The state had also announced an audit of the first count, required by law.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who described himself as a “passionate conservative” and a “proud Trump supporter,” said he was disappointed, like other Republicans, that his candidate did not win the state.
“People feel like their side was cheated on. We saw this from the Democrats in 2018 and we see it from the Republicans today, ”Raffensperger said. “Working as an engineer my whole life, I live by the motto that numbers don’t lie,” he said, adding that the numbers presented today were correct.
Mr. Raffensberger had told the Washington Post Earlier this week, he and his wife had received death threats prior to the announcement and that he was under pressure from Republicans, including Sen. Lindsay Graham, not to count votes cast legally (hypothetically, based on non-signatures). matches on mailed ballots).
Kemp said Friday night that thousands of uncounted votes (5,800 result in nearly 1,400 net winnings for Trump according to CNN) were found after the audit, something he called “unacceptable.” Mr. Kemp said the audit did not address the issue of signature matching.
“It is important for Georgians to know that the large number of local poll workers did their job well under unprecedented circumstances.”
The governor did not explicitly say that Mr. Biden had won, but said that he had to, by law, formalize the certified results that Mr. Raffensberger had presented, “which paves the way for the Trump campaign to pursue other legal options. and a separate count if they wish. “
Georgia will hold a two-seat runoff election in the Senate on January 5, the results of which will determine whether Democrats or Republicans control the Senate in the next Congress.
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