Georgia hand tally of presidential race gets underway

ATLANTA (AP)

Election officials in Georgia’s 159 counties are undertaking a hand tally of the presidential race that stems from an audit required by state law.

The law requires that one race be audited by hand to check that the machines counted the ballots accurately, not because of any suspected problems with the results.

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger chose to audit the presidential race, in which Democrat Joe Biden leads Republican President Donald Trump by about 14,000 votes.

Raffensperger says the tight margin means a full hand count is necessary. The counties are to complete the audit by 11:59 p.m. Wednesday.