Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Wednesday ordered a recount of all 5 million ballots cast in the presidential election to check initial results showing President-elect Joe Biden won by 14,000 votes.
Raffensperger, a Republican, said the recount will be conducted by hand in each of Georgia’s 159 counties, and it must be completed by a Nov. 20 deadline to finalize election results. Poll workers will review the printed text on ballots and then sort them into piles to check the accuracy of results.
The recount will be combined with a previously planned audit of paper ballots. But instead of auditing a relatively small sample of ballots, the review will encompass all ballots.
The decision to start a hand recount came after the Trump campaign requested it Tuesday. Raffensperger said he wasn’t influenced by the Trump campaign.