Third Georgia count again confirms Biden victory

ATLANTA — Georgia’s top elections official on Monday recertified the state’s election results after a recount requested by President Trump confirmed once again that Democrat Joe Biden won the state, his office said.

“We have now counted legally cast ballots three times, and the results remain unchanged,” said Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

Georgia law allows a losing candidate to request a recount if the margin between the candidates is within 0.5%. Trump requested the recount after the results certified by Raffensperger showed that Biden led by a margin of 12,670 votes, or 0.25% of the roughly 5 million ballots cast.

During the recount, which was done using scanners that read and tally the votes, there were discrepancies in vote totals in some counties. Since the results of a recount become the official results, those counties had to recertify their results. Once that was done, the secretary of state recertified the statewide results. Gov. Brian Kemp then recertified the state’s slate of 16 presidential electors as required by state law, spokesman Cody Hall said.

The recount was the third tally of votes in the presidential race in the state. After the initial count following election day, Raffensperger selected the presidential race for an audit required by state law. The tight margin meant the audit required the roughly 5 million votes in that contest to be recounted by hand. That count also affirmed Biden’s victory.

Also Monday, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed on behalf of wouldbe Republican presidential electors by former Trump lawyer Sidney Powell. The suit alleged widespread fraud and sought to decertify the results of the presidential race in Georgia, among other things.

“They want this court to substitute its judgment for that of 2 and a half million Georgia voters who voted for Joe Biden and this I am unwilling to do,” said U. S. District Judge Timothy Batten as he dismissed the suit following a hearing.

Even as lawsuits filed by Trump and his allies have been rejected around the country, the president has continued to make baseless claims of fraud. In Georgia, he has rained criticism on Raffensperger and Kemp, both fellow Republicans. Raffensperger, meanwhile, has been steadfast in his defense of the integrity of the election and Kemp has said he has no power to intervene.