Georgia to hold 2nd recount requested by Trump campaign after certifying Biden won the state

In a statement, the Trump campaign said that it was “focused on ensuring that every aspect of Georgia State Law and the US Constitution are followed so that every legal vote is counted,” and also called for signature matching for mail-in ballots and “other vital safeguards.”

After receiving the request, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger informed county election directors to prepare for the recount and to notify political parties so they could assign observers to respective polling sites. 

The recount will be done using scanners that read and tabulate the votes. However, the process of recounting the ballots will not include signature matching. 

The incumbent Republican president was allowed to ask for a recount after certification of the results because the margin of victory is still less than 0.5 percent. Trump’s Democratic Party challenger was declared the winner of the state on Friday. He received 12,670 more votes than Trump did in the traditionally red state, giving him a 0.2 percent lead. 

Georgia has already carried out a full recount by hand, which stemmed from a partial audit of the presidential ballots. State law requires that one race be audited by hand to double-check machine tabulations. Raffensperger chose to review the presidential results, but the audit turned into a full recount due to the close margin of the electoral contest.

The Trump campaign dismissed the first recount because it did not verify the signatures of mail-in ballots, raising questions about why it pursued a second review which also won’t scrutinize absentee votes. 

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