Georgia has finished its statewide audit of the razor-thin presidential race, confirming that President-elect Joe Biden defeated President Donald Trump, according to a news release from the Secretary of State’s office.
Biden beat Trump by 12,284 votes, according to the final results from the audit, CNN reports.
This is a slight drop for Biden compared to the pre-audit results.Officials have said repeatedly that the audit confirmed there was no widespread fraud or irregularities in the election.
Georgia is required under state law to certify its election results by Friday.
“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, a Republican, said in a statement.
“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.”
There is no state where the sting of Trump’s loss has been more acutely felt than in the red state of Georgia.
The suburban revolt against Trump in the suburbs surrounding Atlanta, paired with huge turnout among Black voters, powered Biden’s gains in the state, building on years of intensive Democratic organising to register voters.
