Georgia recount unearths more than 2,600 uncounted ballots in Floyd County: Report

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What is the status of Georgia election recounts?

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger joins 'The Daily Briefing' with the latest.

More than 2,600 ballots in Georgia’s Floyd County that have not been tallied were recently found during a recount in the state for the 2020 presidential election, according to reports.

Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger blamed the problem on Floyd County election officials failing to upload votes from a memory card in a ballot-scanning machine.

Georgia began recounting its nearly 5 million ballots by hand on Friday after President Donald Trump and the Republican Party requested a statewide audit. 

Cobb County Election officials handle ballots during an audit, Monday, Nov. 16, 2020, in Marietta, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

The 2,600 previously uncounted ballots in the county marked the most significant issue so far uncovered in the recount process. Floyd County Republican Party chair Luke Martin called the mishap “concerning” but insisted that it “doesn’t appear to be a widespread issue.”

“I’m glad the audit revealed it, and it’s important that all votes are counted,” Martin told the Atlanta-Journal Constitution.  

Other counties so far have not found uncounted ballots, with recount figures closely matching their original numbers, Raffensperger said.

Though President Trump has decried alleged voter fraud, the accounted ballots will likely do little to close the 14,000-vote gap with President-Elect Joe Biden. If Biden does emerge victorious, he will have clinched the Peach State's 16 electoral votes -- flipping a historically-red southern battleground. 

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Gabriel Sterling of the Secretary of State’s office told WSB-TV that the newly discovered ballots will hand Trump an additional 800 votes – which still leaves Biden in the lead.

At a Monday evening news conference, Sterling called for Floyd County’s elections director to step down.

“The secretary of, since this was such an amazing blunder and they had issues in August, would like to see that elections director in Floyd County step down from his position,” Sterling said.

Fox News reached out to the Floyd County Board of Elections and Voter Registration for comment but did not hear back.

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The states' 159 counties and thousands of county and poll workers have a deadline of Wednesday, Nov. 18 at midnight to finish the recount. 

Fox News' Julia Musto contributed to this report.