Gwinnett County officials were slated to begin a recount of votes in the race for president at 9 a.m. today.
The statewide hand recount will take place in every county. In Gwinnett, the process is happening at the county’s elections headquarters.
Nearly 414,000 Gwinnett residents cast ballots in the race between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden.
Joe Sorenson, a Gwinnett spokesperson, said participants in the recount got the “green light” shortly before 10 a.m., after receiving instructions about the process.
The county has 64 two-person audit boards counting ballots and four two-person voter review panels looking at any ballots where the vote is undetermined.
Sorenson said he did not yet know the schedule for completing the recount or any possible costs associated with it.
Friday’s counting will likely go until 8 or 10 p.m., Sorenson said as workers were on a lunch break and deputies secured the ballots. He said a call has gone out for people who worked the polls to assist with the recount going forward, but no additional workers would be added today.
Sorenson said he had no idea how many ballots had been counted so far, but that elections officials would gauge the progress in order to decide the hours going forward.
“It seems to be going smoothly,” he said.
The county is livestreaming its audit, and about half of the 64 tables at the elections warehouse are visible on the stream. At each table, the two-person audit boards sort ballots into piles based on who the presidential vote is for.
People walking down a center aisle are able to watch the progress. There is no sound on the livestream.
To watch, go to https://www.gwinnettcounty.com/web/gwinnett/Departments/Elections
The statewide recount of nearly 5 million ballots was ordered by Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in order to verify election results reported so far in Georgia. Biden held a 14,000-vote lead over Trump as of Friday morning. Each county is responsible for counting the ballots cast in their jurisdiction, and they’ll likely have to foot the bill themselves.
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