Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has apparently certified Georgia’s election results, announcing that Joe Biden has won.
The announcement comes after a recount, and conflicting reports about whether or not the state had actually certified or not certified earlier in the day.
Raffensperger: “The Numbers Don’t Lie”
Georgia finished a statewide recount of the votes for its presidential election, apparently confirming that Joe Biden had won the state, by a margin of 12,284 votes.
This was a drop in the vote for Biden of a few thousand, but still enough to maintain his lead in the Peach state.
The hand recount and recanvass was announced last Wednesday.
“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,” Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said at the time.
“It will be a heavy lift, but we will work with the counties to get this done in time for our state certification,” he continued at the time.
During the press conference today, Raffensperger said that the “numbers don’t lie” in the election. “As secretary of state, I believe that the numbers that we are presented today are correct,” he continued.
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Initial Confusion
Raffensperger’s office originally announced at 12:26 PM Eastern that the recount had been completed in a statement.
However, by 1:06 PM, this was reversed, saying that the results would be certified later on Friday, not that they already had been.
— Disclose.tv ? (@disclosetv) November 20, 2020
By law, the Georgia Governor Brian Kemp had until Friday at 5 PM to officially certify the results.
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Trump Campaign Disputes Georgia Results
The Trump campaign, has, however, been critical of the attempted recount and certification.
Jenna Ellis, a senior legal advisor to the Trump campaign, said that the recount had gone “exactly as we expected,” as the campaign continues to argue that there are irregularities in the election.
Georgia’s near zero mail-in ballot rejection rate is extremely troubling. In years passed the average rejection rate has been 3%. This anomaly alone is reason for a full & comprehensive audit of every ballot cast.
— Jenny Beth Martin (@jennybethm) November 20, 2020
“The Governor of Georgia, and Secretary of State, refuse to let us look at signatures which would expose hundreds of thousands of illegal ballots, and give the Republican Party and me, David Perdue, and perhaps Kelly Loeffler, a BIG VICTORY,” President Trump tweeted.
“Why won’t they do it, and why are they so fast to certify a meaningless tally?” he added.
…Why won’t they do it, and why are they so fast to certify a meaningless tally?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 20, 2020
It is unclear what the next steps are for the Trump campaign in Georgia.