US State of Georgia to Certify Election Results Despite 'Concerns' Over Vote - Official

�WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th November, 2020) The US state of Georgia will certify its presidential election results on Friday despite lingering concerns over the integrity of the vote, and will work to eliminate problems it uncovered during its statewide audit of ballots, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger told reporters in Atlanta.

"I believe that the numbers that we have presented today are correct. The numbers reflect the verdict of the people, not a decision by the secretary of state's office, or of courts, or of either campaign," Raffensperger said. "I want to do everything that I can to build voters' trust in our electoral system. To that end I want to work with the governor and legislators on legislation that improves on our current system."

Raffensperger said he wanted to work on legislation that would allow the state to intervene in counties that have "systemic ongoing problems" in administering elections. He also pledged to implement a process that would prevent ballots from going uncounted.

"The audit revealed that in some counties not all the votes had been counted.

That doesn't mean those counties had systemic problems, but it does raise a concern. We must implement a reconciliation process that prevents such errors from happening in the future," he said.

Raffensperger also called for reform of Georgia's mail-in voting system, which the state implemented for the first time this year in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

"Such a large number of mail-in ballots has raised concerns about election integrity," he said, vowing to work with legislators to enforce a photo ID requirement for all absentee voters.

Projected President-elect Joe Biden won Georgia by 0.3% - nearly 14,000 votes - in the initial tally of the November 3 election, a razor-thin margin that triggered the mandatory audit for the first time in the state's history.

Georgia is required to certify vote count by Friday at 5:00 p.m. local time, per state law.

All US states must have disputes resolved and votes certified by December 8 before electors meet in their respective capitals on December 18 to cast final official votes.�