US Election: Georgia to recount all votes in presidential race by hand

Republican State Secretary Brad Raffensperger has ordered all of the Georgia’s 159 counties to conduct a hand recount and audit of all votes.

Election workers assess absentee and provisional ballots at the Voter Registrations and Elections office in Gwinnett, Georgia. Picture: Getty Images/AFP

Georgia Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger ordered all of the state’s 159 counties to conduct a hand recount and audit of all votes cast in the presidential race, an extraordinary step in an election with unprecedented high turnout.

As of Wednesday morning, Democratic nominee Joe Biden led President Donald Trump by a little over 14,000 votes out of almost 5 million cast. If Mr Biden is declared the winner, it will be the first time a Democratic presidential candidate has carried the state since 1992. Mr Biden has won enough states in the Electoral College to become the president-elect, even without Georgia, according to Associated Press projections and elections results.

By state law, Mr Raffensperger is required to certify the election by Nov 20. Mr Raffensperger, who backed Mr Trump in the election, was sharply criticised by Trump supporters who have claimed that the election was mismanaged, but offered no evidence to back up that claim. On Monday, Georgia GOP Sens David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, both facing runoff contests in which the support of Trump backers will be crucial, called on Mr Raffensperger to resign.

“We will be counting every single piece of paper,” Mr Raffensperger said. His decision follows a request by the Trump campaign’s recount effort in Georgia that is headed by Republican Rep Doug Collins, a close ally of the president.

As of Wednesday, 97 of the state’s 159 counties had certified their votes, a task that was supposed to be completed by the end of this week.

It wasn’t clear how soon the county boards of election, where staff members had been working nonstop since before the election, will be able to complete reviews of each paper ballot. Mr Raffensperger, speaking outside the state capitol, said the by-hand recount will ensure a more accurate count, as opposed to a re-scanning of ballots through computers.

“This will help build confidence,” he said. “It will be an audit, a recount and a re-canvas all at once. It will be a heavy lift, but we will work with the counties to get this done in time for a state certification.” Under Georgia law, candidates can ask for a recount if the margin of victory is less than 0.5%, but those recounts usually are a re-scanning of ballots, not by-hand reviews of each ballot. After this count and the election is certified, a candidate could still ask for such a recount, Mr Raffensperger said.

This hand review of paper ballots is possible this year for the first time in decades because Georgia recently purchased new voting machines and installed them in response to pressure from groups seeking to improve the voting system. The previous machines didn’t provide paper records, so a hand recount wasn’t possible.

Wall Street Journal