Monday afternoon, the state of Georgia certified the election results, for the third time. Joe Biden won the Peach State by 11,779 votes. President Donald Trump requested a recount after the State certified the state-mandated audit administered by Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. All three results showed Biden as the winner three separate times.
“It’s been 34 days since the election on Nov. 3,” Raffensperger said at a news conference at the Georgia Capitol earlier in the day. “We have now counted legally cast ballots three times and the results remain unchanged.”
Raffensperger’s announcement that he would recertify his state’s election results came a day before the Dec. 8 safe harbor deadline, the federal deadline by which states must resolve all election-related disputes. The Electoral College is scheduled to meet on Dec. 14 to formally choose Biden as the next president.
If Republicans lose both races, the Senate will be evenly split, 50-50, making Vice President-elect Kamala Harris the tie-breaking vote.
Both Loeffler and Purdue have aligned themselves with Trump’s claims of fraud and have called for Raffensberger’s resignation.
Also, the lawsuit filed in Atlanta by Trump attorney Sidney Powell was thrown out Monday. U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Batten dismissed the case in a hearing Monday, saying that the GOP plaintiffs “simply do not have the standing to bring these claims” and waited too long to bring the lawsuit, which should have been brought in state court instead of federal court.
“Today is an important day for election integrity in Georgia and across the country,” Raffensperger said. “The claims in the Kraken lawsuit prove to be as mythological as the creature for which they’re named. Georgians can now move forward knowing that their votes, and only their legal votes, were counted accurately, fairly, and reliably.”
Powell’s Georgia lawsuit was part of forty-seven legal challenges brought about by the Trump team alleging voter fraud and voter machines overturning ballots. The judge said there is “no question in my mind” that if he had granted Powell’s case, his decision would have been reversed by the U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
Trump would appeal to Governor Brian Kemp over the weekend he could overturn the election results if he insisted. Trump made fun of the Governor and Raffensperger, as well as Georgia Lt. Gov Geoff Duncan, in recent days. At the Valdosta rally Saturday night, Trump lampooned Kemp.
“Your governor could stop it very easily if he knew what the hell he was doing,” Trump insisted.
However, Raffensperger, an engineer and Republican, hit out at claims from Stacey Abrams and Donald Trump saying, “whether it is the president of the United States or a failed gubernatorial candidate, disinformation regarding election administration should be condemned and rejected. Integrity matters. Truth matters.”
“All this talk of a stolen election, whether its Stacey Abrams or the president of the United States, is hurting our state,” Raffensperger added. “Continuing to make debunked claims of a stolen election is hurting our state.”
