Georgia to manually recount every ballot as Biden leads by 14K votes
'It will require a full, by-hand recount in each county,' the secretary of state said
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Wednesday announced that election officials will conduct a manual recount of all presidential ballots as President-elect Joe Biden leads in the state by just over 14,000 votes out of nearly 5 million counted.
Raffensperger previously said the state, which has 16 electoral votes, was headed toward a recount after Election Day due to a narrow gap between Biden and President Trump. The Trump campaign and Republican lawmakers like Georgia Rep. Doug Collins have been pushing for a manual recount.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"This is a process. It is a process defined by law. These men and women in my office will continue to follow the law and count every legal vote," Raffensperger said during a Wednesday press conference.
Brad Raffensperger, Georgia Secretary of State speaks onstage during 2020 Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Service. (Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images)
He continued: "With the margin being so close, it will require a full, by-hand recount in each county. 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," which is on Nov. 20.
Trump's camp continues to wage legal battles in some of the battleground states that are still counting votes, filing lawsuits challenging the count in Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Nevada.
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The Georgia suit, which hinged on a poll worker claiming he saw 53 late ballots illegally compiled with a group of eligible ballots, was tossed out by a Chatham County judge on Thursday.
Georgia is also facing two Senate runoff elections in January after two candidates fell shy of 50% of the vote, which candidates must receive in order to win under state law. The results of the runoff elections will likely determine whether Democrats or Republicans control of the Senate.
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Fox News' Vandana Rambaran contributed to this report.