The Trump campaign is demanding a hand recount of every ballot cast in the Georgia presidential election and is threatening legal action if Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger does not comply, Newsweek reported.
Georgia Rep. Doug Collins is leading the campaign's recount effort, and said a "full comparison" of absentee ballots alongside in-person and provisional ballots is being sought. He also said the state should "check for felons and other ineligible persons" who might have voted.
The Trump campaign is seeking hand counts and not machine counts in the recount, according to Newsweek.
"We can — and we will — petition for this in court after statewide certification is completed if the Secretary of State fails to act, but we are hopeful he will preemptively take this action today to ensure every Georgian has confidence in our electoral process," Collins said.
Trump led the vote count on election night, but as counting of early voting has continued, former Vice President Joe Biden's eventually took the lead. As of Tuesday afternoon, Biden had 49.5% of the vote to Trump's 49.2%, according to Reuters, with 99% of the estimated votes counted.
Two remaining Senate races also are in play in Georgia, with runoffs set in January that could decided control of the upper chamber. Should Democrats win both races, Democrats would control both houses of Congress. And if Trump loses his court challenges, they also would control the White House.
Some Republicans fear the Trump campaign's party in-fighting with Raffensperger and other high-ranking state GOP officials could damage Republican chances of winning those races and, thus, maintaining control of the Senate.
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