Trump Gains One Vote, Biden Loses Two In Oconee Risk Audit

President Donald Trump gained one vote in Oconee County and Joseph Biden lost two votes as a result of the Risk-Limiting Audit Full Hand Count of the presidential vote completed locally on Monday.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger certified the results on Friday, and Gov. Brian Kemp announced he would sign the paperwork to allocate Georgia’s 16 Electoral College votes to Biden.

Trump has two days to demand yet another audit, this one conducted by machine, since he lost by less than a half percentage point. The final gap statewide was 12,284 votes, or 0.2 percentage points.

Fran Leathers, director of Elections and Registration for Oconee County, said such a recount could begin on Monday, when her office also begins early voting for the Dec. 1 runoff in the special election for District Attorney of the Western Judicial Circuit.

Early voting will be held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday at the Oconee County Civic Center, 2661 Hog Mountain Road, west of Butler’s Crossing.

The candidates are James Chafin, running without party label, and Deborah Gonzalez, running as a Democrat.

Oconee and Clarke counties make up the Western Judicial Circuit and voters in those two counties alone will be participating in the Dec. 1 balloting. No other race is being decided on that date.

For more on the story, please go to Oconee County Observations.