Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger told reporters on Friday that the state will likely head to a recount due to the small margin between former Vice President Joe Biden and President Trump.

Biden pulled ahead in the state by a narrow margin of just over 1,000 votes as of Friday morning, The New York Times reported.

"This process is and will remain open and transparent to monitors," Raffensberger said. Candidates must be within half a percentage point of each other to trigger a recount.

Gabriel Sterling, the state's Voting System Implementation Manager, told reporters that there are 4,169 outstanding ballots in the state. Sterling also emphasized that the count would be thorough and transparent.

"Everything's going to have to be investigated to protect the integrity of the vote," Sterling said. "We are literally looking at a margin of less than a large high school."

However, Sterling also pushed back against false claims that there was ongoing voter fraud.

"We're not seeing any widespread irregularities," he said.

In Georgia's Clayton County, the congressional district of the late civil rights icon John Lewis, Biden gained 85% of the vote compared to Trump's 14.1%, The Times reported. Clayton County reported some of their votes early Friday and helped Biden gain a slight edge over the president.

Under Georgia law, a candidate can request a recount if the margin is less than 0.5 percent of votes cast. That request must be made within two days of results being certified.

However, a formal recount challenge will not be made until later in November, The Washington Post reported.

In addition to Georgia, the Trump campaign already announced that they plan to request a recount in Wisconsin.

“There have been reports of irregularities in several Wisconsin counties which raise serious doubts about the validity of the results. The President is well within the threshold to request a recount and we will immediately do so,” Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien said in a statement.

The state is considered crucial for both candidates. Trump won Wisconsin by less than 1% in 2016.

There are no automatic recounts in Wisconsin, but a candidate who is within 1% of the winner can request one.

A worker handles official ballots at the Clark County Election Department on November 5, 2020, in North Las Vegas
A worker handles official ballots at the Clark County Election Department on November 5, 2020, in North Las Vegas AFP / Ronda Churchill
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