Joe Biden’s victory margin in Georgia tightened slightly Monday after the state discovered that around 2,600 ballots went uncounted in a rural county.
The unofficial breakdown of the votes that weren't previously uploaded was 1,643 for Trump, 865 for Biden and 16 for Libertarian Jo Jorgensen, according to Gabriel Sterling, who oversaw the implementation of the new statewide election system for the secretary of state's office.<
While the discovery in Floyd County will bolster President Donald Trump’s tally by about 800 votes, it’s unlikely to change the state’s overall results significantly, said Sterling. Biden’s margin over Trump will fall to about 13,300 votes from 14,100.
Still, the gaffe could worsen an already tense situation in the state, which is conducting a hand recount of the Nov. 3 vote, which the Trump campaign alleges was marred by fraud. As of Monday, Georgia had recounted about 4.3 million of the 5 million ballots cast, Sterling said. It was during this audit process that election workers discovered the uncounted ballots in Floyd County, a Republican-leaning community in northwest Georgia.
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger suggested that Floyd County’s elections chief should resign over the error, Sterling said. “Nothing is making us see any substantive change in the outcome,” Sterling, a Republican, said during a videoconference with journalists Monday afternoon. Yet “there is no good explanation as to why you wouldn’t upload those numbers.”
Raffensperger, also a Republican, tested negative for COVID-19 but has remained in quarantine in recent days after his wife tested positive. His office has insisted that the state’s election results are accurate despite repeated allegations from the president and his allies, which last week included a call from Georgia’s incumbent U.S. senators, David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, that Raffensperger should resign.
Both senators are in run-off races with Democratic opponents set for Jan. 5.
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