Joe Biden’s Georgia win has been reaffirmed following a recount of the state’s ballots, CNN reported. Despite a slight decrease from the pre-audit results, the final tally shows the president-elect beat Donald Trump by 12,284 votes.
Following Trump’s allegations of “widespread irregularities” in the tabulation of election results, Georgia announced they would recount their votes, specifically citing the slim election margin between POTUS and Biden. The state has consistently confirmed there was no fraud or irregularities in their ballot counting.
“Georgia’s historic first statewide audit reaffirmed that the state’s new secure paper ballot voting system accurately counted and reported results,” Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said in a statement announcing the recount results. “This is a credit to the hard work of our county and local elections officials who moved quickly to undertake and complete such a momentous task in a short period of time.”
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp has until 5 p.m. ET on Saturday (Nov. 21) to sign the paperwork that will grant the state’s 16 electoral votes to Biden.
Biden’s win in Georgia is a monumental one as it marks the first time in 28 years that the traditionally red state turned blue. Many have credited the moment to voting rights advocate Stacey Abrams whose Fair Fight organization reportedly registered 800,000 first-time voters over the past two years.
Georgia’s political attention is now centered on the U.S. Senate elections that will determine which political party will control the Senate. In her work to increase voter participation and bring attention to the upcoming elections, Abrams made a virtual appearance at the Gucci Mane and Jeezy Verzuz battle — which took place in Atlanta —and encouraged Georgia citizens to go to the polls and vote.
Biden’s triumph in the presidential election was announced after his victory in the state of Pennsylvania. Trump refuses to concede, but said in a previous tweet that Biden “won” as a result of a rigged election.