An audit of votes in Georgia has discovered more than 2,500 uncounted ballots, nearly two-thirds of which favour Donald Trump – but officials say the development won’t significantly swing the power in the state in Donald Trump’s favour. Leading Mr Trump by more than 14,000 votes, Joe Biden has been projected as the winner in Georgia by most major news networks. About five million votes were cast in total in the state, which is still aspiring for a Democrat victory for the first time in 28 years.
Gabriel Sterling, an official with the Georgia secretary of state’s election team, disclosed the nature of the newly discovered, uncounted votes, 1,643 were for Mr Trump, 865 for Mr Biden and 16 for Libertarian candidate Jo Jorgensen, according to the Associated Press, which is yet to declare a winner in the state. He said it seems proper procedures weren’t followed when the results were tabulated by machine, but that officials caught the problem during the by-hand tally as the county had retained the paper ballots.
County election board Chairman Tom Rees said election officials were unsure about the miscalculation. The hand count in Georgia is being conducted as a result of state law, which demands an audit to check voting machine figures when the overall results in an election are close. By Monday evening, the vast majority of Georgia’s 159 counties had completed the physical hand tally. The reason behind the audit was the narrow margin between the candidates.
Donald Trump has been crying foul since the election results were declared. Biden’s campaign, meanwhile, has maintained calm and pointed out that the recount may change the vote count in some areas but the overall result will remain in their favour. “We continue, after two and a half days of this audit, to agree with the secretary of state that there is no reason to believe that any widespread irregularities have been found,” Mr Biden’s campaign lawyer Patrick Moore said.
