by Jason Schaumburg
The razor-thin margin between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden in Georgia likely will necessitate a recount, Georgia elections officials said Friday.
“Right now, Georgia remains too close to call,” Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said Friday afternoon. “Out of the approximately 5 million votes cast, we’ll have a margin of a few thousand. … With a margin that small, there likely will be a recount in Georgia.”
As of 4 p.m. Friday, Biden had 2,450,524 votes (49.40%), and Trump had 2,448,986 (49.37%) – a difference of 1,538 votes.
“Free and fair elections are the foundation of our American government. Any allegations of intentional fraud or violations of election law must be taken seriously and investigated,” Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and House Speaker David Ralston said in a joint statement. “We trust that our Secretary of State will ensure that the law is followed as written and that Georgia’s election result includes all legally-cast ballots – and only legally-cast ballots. We will continue to follow this situation to ensure a fair and transparent process.”
Georgia is one of five states still not called by The Associated Press in the race for president of the Unites States. A winner still has not been declared in Alaska, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
In races that have been called, Biden has 264 electoral votes, and Trump has 214. A candidate needs 270 electoral votes to win the presidency.
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Jason Schaumburg is an award-winning, veteran editor who has been a journalist for more than 20 years. He spent a decade as the top editor in three northern Illinois newsrooms for Shaw Media and Pioneer Press. Schaumburg is a regional editor for The Center Square.
Background Photo “Georgia Capitol” by DXR. CC BY-SA 4.0.
