Georgia certifies Biden won recount after prematurely announcing victory
The state’s governor says he will accept the certified results on Friday
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Your support makes all the difference.The Georgia Secretary of State announced it has certified Joe Biden as the winner of the state’s recount.
Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s Secretary of State, made an announcement earlier today that he had certified the results, but the announcement was premature as only unofficial results had been revealed.
With the official results reported, Mr Raffensperger has certified that Mr Biden won the recount by 12,670 votes.
The state’s governor, Brian Kemp, has until Saturday at 5pm to accept the certified election results.
Donald Trump's campaign has two business days to call for a recount, as the results are within a .5 per cent margin.
If a recount is called, it would be done using vote counting machines at the expense of the counties.
Unless another recount is called, Mr Biden will receive the state's 16 electoral votes once Mr Kemp accepts the results.
Mr Kemp announced that he will accept the certified results after the official announcement was made. He will host a press conference Friday at 5pm.
At the same time that Georgia was certifying the recount votes, Mr Trump was meeting with GOP lawmakers from Michigan to discuss the campaigns long-shot attempt at overturning the election results.
Michigan House Speaker Lee Chatfield, Speaker-elect Jason Wentworth and Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey reportedly attended the meeting, according to a source speaking with CNN.
Sources also told CNN that Mr Trump planned to have a similar meeting with GOP lawmakers from Pennsylvania as well.
Protesters met the Michigan lawmakers on their way into Washington DC to meet with Mr Trump. Demonstrators carried signs that said "SHAME."
Critics believe that Mr Trump is trying to pressure the state GOP leaders to select Trump-loyalist electors in order to overturn the election in key states the president lost. Doing so would mean undermining the will of the voters in those states, effectively tossing out hundreds of thousands of legally cast votes.
US Senator Mitt Romney criticised Mr Trump, calling the plot "undemocratic".
“It is difficult to imagine a worse, more undemocratic action by a sitting American president,” he said.
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said the meeting was not an advocacy meeting and claimed that no one from Mr Trump's campaign would be present. She said that the president regularly meets with GOP officials.
However, a Republican lawmaker from the state who was also invited to the meeting told NBC News that the lawmakers fully expected Mr Trump to lean on them to undermine the election in order to benefit Mr Trump.
The lawmaker said he found it "hard to believe" that the lawmakers would comply with the president's demands.
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