Joe Biden has won the presidential election in the state of Georgia, a state recount confirmed on Thursday.
Initial results last week showed that Biden won the state by about 15,000 votes, a margin small enough that state elections officials immediately commenced a by-hand recount. While over 2,000 uncounted ballots for the President Trump were indeed discovered during the recount, the final tally shows that Biden beat Trump by 12,284 votes, according to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
Joe Biden’s lead over Donald Trump is by 12,284 votes after the statewide audit, per Secretary of State. pic.twitter.com/RSBe4V0qte
— Matt Johnson (@MattWSB) November 20, 2020
“The audit has aligned very close to what we had in election night reporting,” Raffensperger told WSBTV 2, an Atlanta-based news station. “It’s so close, it’s not a thimble full of difference.”
The president has refused to concede defeat to Biden, and has claimed Democrats “stole” the national election through widespread voter fraud. Some Republican allies of Trump, including Georgia senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, have called on Raffensperger to resign, alleging that the secretary of state mismanaged the election.
Raffensperger, himself a Republican, has dismissed all claims that the Georgia elections were mishandled or marked by voter fraud.
The results mark the first time since 1992 that a Democratic presidential candidate has won in Georgia, long considered a conservative stronghold.
Additionally, Senators Perdue and Loeffler are slated to compete in runoff elections for their seats in January. If both Democratic challengers Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock win the runoff elections, Democrats and Republicans will be tied 50-50 in the SEnate.
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