Georgia official: Recount should be finished Wednesday, most results ‘spot on’ with original tallies

Georgia elections officials say the state’s 2020 presidential election recount should be completed Wednesday, adding that most of the results have been “spot on” with the initial tallies reported.

Only 300,000 ballots remain to be hand-counted in Georgia out of the nearly 5 million that were cast in the Nov. 3 general election, according to Gabriel Sterling, Georgia’s voting systems implementation manager, CNN reported.

Officials from 29 of the state’s 159 counties told CNN that their election audits found no discrepancies with results initially reported.

President Trump has refused to concede the election to President-elect Joe Biden, citing massive voter fraud in a number of states, including the Peach State.

On Monday, around 2,600 ballots were found in Floyd County that had not previously been included in the state’s count, netting about 778 votes in favor of Trump.

Still, Sterling said the previously uncounted ballots were not enough to alter the election outcome, as Biden led Georgia by over 14,000 votes before the audit.

Sterling said that the ballots went missing due to “human error” and were not part of purported systematic efforts to undermine the election.

Local Republican officials from Floyd County falsely alleged on Monday that Dominion Voting Systems caused the issue. The conspiracy theory, which has been backed by Trump, has been repeatedly debunked by the Department of Homeland Security.

Additionally, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperer (R) on Tuesday said that the audit of the state’s voting machines has finished and found no signs of foul play, further quashing the president’s theories about Dominion and its software.

“Election security has been a top priority since day one of my administration,” Raffensperer said, adding he was “glad but not surprised” the state’s audit was “an unqualified success.”

“We have partnered with the Department of Homeland Security, the Georgia Cyber Center, Georgia Tech security experts, and [a] wide range of other election security experts around the state and country so Georgia voters can be confident that their vote is safe and secure,” said Raffensperer.

Once Georgia has certified its election results, the Trump campaign may request an official recount.

Sterling said Georgia officials had procured high-speed ballot scanners for each county if a recount is requested.