A manual recount of the ballots in Georgia has confirmed President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the southern US state, AFP reported quoting the state’s secretary of state Brad Raffensperger. “The audit confirmed that the original machine count accurately portrayed the winner of the election,” Raffensperger a statement posted on the website of Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger read. 

Biden has won with a margin of 12,284 votes over his Republican challenger Donald Trump. The margin is less than the original count that showed Biden’s lead by a little over 14,000 votes. 

By winning Georgia, Biden has captured its 16 electoral college votes. This has taken Biden’s lead to 306 electoral college votes, against Trump’s 232. A presidential candidate needs to win 270 electoral votes to win the US presidential election. 

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The confirmation makes Biden the first Democratic presidential candidate to win the southern US state in almost three decades, despite his rival Donald Trump’s claims of fraud.

Georgia had announced last Wednesday a manual recount of votes as Biden had a narrow lead over Trump. With the margin being so close, there is a need to recount, Raffensperger, a Republican, had announced then.