The US state of Georgia has completed a manual recount of all the ballots cast there in the presidential election, and the results confirm Joe Biden’s win in the state, a local official announced Thursday.
“The audit confirmed that the original machine count accurately portrayed the winner of the election,” a statement posted on the website of Georgia, secretary of state Brad Raffensperger said.
The confirmation makes Biden the first Democratic presidential candidate to win the southern US state in almost three decades, despite his rival Donald Trump’s claims of fraud.
Meanwhile, Biden on Thursday accused Donald Trump of brazenly damaging democracy, as the incumbent’s campaign to reverse his election loss through fraud claims was dealt another blow with a recount in Georgia.
Trump was behind “incredibly damaging messages being sent to the rest of the world about how democracy functions,” Biden told reporters in his home state of Delaware.
“It’s hard to fathom how this man thinks,” said Biden. “I’m confident he knows he hasn’t won, is not going to be able to win and we’re going to be sworn in January 20th.”
Trump has refused to accept his loss on November 3, despite his opponent getting over six million more votes.
Biden won the state-by-state Electoral College votes that ultimately decide who takes the White House by 306 to 232, flipping five states that went to Trump four years ago.
That includes Georgia, where a hand recount of its five million ballots confirmed Thursday that Biden is the first Democratic presidential candidate to win the southern state in almost three decades.
The recount showed Biden had won by 12,284 votes, according to figures posted on Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger’s website — slightly fewer than the approximately 14,000 he originally led by.
Trump campaign legal advisor Jenna Ellis attacked the outcome and pledged the campaign will “pursue all legal options.”
After initially making baseless claims of widespread fraud, Trump has appeared to shift his strategy to asking states to overrule the will of voters.