Joe Biden’s election victory in Georgia has been confirmed following a hand tally of ballots.
The president-elect beat Donald Trump by 12,284 votes, according to the audit. Georgia’s secretary of state Brad Raffensperger said afterwards there was ‘no doubt’ Mr Biden’s win would be certified on Friday.
It came hours after President Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani repeated baseless allegations of election rigging and voter fraud at a press conference. His legal team maintain there is still a path to victory, despite losing three more lawsuits on Thursday.
Asked about his refusal to concede, Mr Biden said the president is showing ‘incredible irresponsibility’ and sending ‘incredibly damaging messages to the rest of the world about how democracy functions’, adding: ‘I just think it’s totally irresponsible.’
In Georgia, a judge appointed by the president denied a legal request to halt certification of Mr Biden’s victory in the state.
The lawsuit accused election officials there of improperly changing the process for how absentee ballots should be dealt with.
US district judge Steven Grimberg said: ‘To halt the certification at literally the eleventh hour would breed confusion and disenfranchisement that I find have no basis in fact and law.’
Another judge in Pennsylvania rejected Mr Trump’s bid to throw out 2,000 ballots in Bucks County, near Philadelphia, over a range of supposed defects including missing ‘secrecy envelopes’.
The judge noted that the president’s own team had submitted there was ‘no evidence of any fraud, misconduct, or any impropriety with respect to the challenged ballots’.
And in Arizona, a state court dismissed another lawsuit to halt Mr Biden being declared the winner in that state.
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