WASHINGTON – Georgia will be recounting all ballots, mail-in and in person, by hand from the November 3rd Presidential Election, by November 20th. With Democratic President-Elect Joe Biden having over 270 Electoral College votes because of the surge of mail-in ballots from Pennsylvania, obtaining Georgia would only add to his margin of victory. Incumbent President Donald Trump has claimed there had been voter fraud and is refusing to concede to Joe Biden’s victory.

With Mr. Biden leading Mr. Trump by 14,101 votes out of about 5 million within the state, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said since the margin is small there, must be a hand recount. The officials will work in pairs and be under observation from each political party while hand recounting votes. If the officials are trying to meet their November 20th deadline, that will mean they will have to count over 23,000 votes an hour around the clock. Through, a study conducted that Mr. Trump would need to win by a much smaller 0.024%. Currently, Mr. Biden is leading Georgia by 49.5% and Mr. Trump with 49.2%. 

(Compiled from Reuters for the Guilford Voyager by Za’Nia Harris, original reporting by Jason Lange and Julia Harte)