Trump campaign asks Georgia for another election recount
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Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. Photo: Paras Griffin/Getty Images
Georgia will conduct another presidential election results recount following a Trump campaign request on Saturday.
Why it matters: State election officials and Gov. Brian Kemp (R) on Friday certified Georgia's election results that show President-elect Joe Biden officially won the state by just over 12,600 votes.
- But Georgia officials had said earlier that the Trump campaign had until Tuesday to request a recount since the margin was within 0.5%.
Details: Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) asked his deputy in a written message to "officially notify county election directors to prepare for the recount and to notify political parties so they could muster observers at the respective sites," which he said would be "highly scrutinized," AP reports.
- "[E]mphasize to the counties the importance of transparency and accuracy of the process," Raffensperger said in his message.
- The new count would be completed using scanning machines and paid for by the counties.
What they're saying: Trump's legal team said in a statement confirming the filing of the recount petition, "We are focused on ensuring that every aspect of Georgia State Law and the U.S. Constitution are followed so that every legal vote is counted. President Trump and his campaign continue to insist on an honest recount in Georgia, which has to include signature matching and other vital safeguards."
- Raffensperger wrote in a Washington Post op-ed Saturday, headlined "Georgia's election results are sound," that the state's voting system "has never been more secure or trustworthy."
- "In Georgia, signatures for absentee ballot voters are verified twice to ensure that each voter gets one vote — and only one vote," he wrote.
The big picture: Trump and his campaign are seeking to discredit election tallies in key swing states that flipped to Biden this cycle, making baseless claims of widespread voter fraud they say affected results. That's despite secretaries of state and election officials across the U.S. reporting nothing of the sort for in-person or mail-in voting.
- A Republican judge in Pennsylvania earlier on Saturday became the latest to dismiss a Trump campaign lawsuit.
- That suit sought to block the certification of the state's election results, which the judge found were based on "speculative accusations ... and unsupported by evidence."
Go deeper: Trump challenges cement Biden triumph
Editor's note: This article has been updated with new details throughout.
