US election: Georgia announces full recount

The US election has been full of twists and turns and though Joe Biden was declared the next President, Donald Trump continues to proclaim he can still take the count (with no evidence to back up these claims). In an effort to put all to rest, Georgia has declared a full recount

An audit of US presidential election results in Georgia will trigger a full hand recount, state officials have announced.

Secretary of state Brad Raffensperger said at a news conference on Wednesday evening that his office wants the process to begin by the end of the week and he expects it to take until November 20.

After results from the hand recount are certified, the losing campaign can then request another recount, which will be performed by machine.

Related: WATCH: Donald Trump claims victory and calls the election ‘a fraud’ on American public

He explained he chose to audit the presidential race and said the tight margin means that the audit will result in a full hand recount.

“No, we’re doing this because it’s really what makes the most sense with the national significance of this race and the closeness of this race,” he said, when asked if he chose to do it as a result of Trump calling for a full hand count of votes.

President-elect Joe Biden leads President Donald Trump by about 14,000 votes out of nearly five million that have been counted in the state.

Trump continues to allege voter fraud in multiple swing states (though, by no coincidence only the states which he has lost). He and a number of his senior advisers have not yet accepted that Mr Biden won the electoral college vote and as yet has refused to concede.

His campaign has launched multiple legal challenges, but given the fact that the president is trailing his opponent in a number of swing states by a significant amount, it is not likely that a recount or legal challenge will change the outcome of the election.

Trump’s campaign has also said it will request a recount in Wisconsin after Biden won the state by less than 1% of the vote. Any presidential candidate has the right to request a recount, however, US legal experts say the count difference, even though the percentages are extremely close, will make little difference as Biden leads by tens of thousands – not enough, they say, for a genuine basis for a recount.

Let the drama continue.

Read more: Biden Wins: Democrat projected to take White House as he takes Pennsylvania

Read more: US Election update: Crucial Wisconsin State goes to Biden