Cobb Elections extends hours to complete presidential recount

Cobb Elections said Thursday that its staffers will be working longer hours next week to complete the presidential recount. Cobb election results certified

According to a message put out by Cobb County Government, those hours will be from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday and Tuesday and from 8 a.m. to as much time is needed on Wednesday to complete the recount.

Wednesday is the deadline given to all Georgia counties to complete the recount. Nearly 400,000 Cobb County ballots are being recounted on eight scanners, according to the county, and nearly 5 million Georgia ballots are being recounted across the state.

No recounting is being done on Friday. The recount, which started on Tuesday, is taking place in Cobb at Jim Miller Park (2245 Calloway Road), and the public is invited to observe.

The recount was requested by the campaign of President Donald Trump after a hand recount slightly reduced Democratic former vice president Joe Biden’s lead in Georgia to less than 13,000 votes.

Biden has 49.51 percent of the vote compared to 49.25 percent for Trump, which falls within the 0.5 percent threshold for a recount in Georgia.

Biden won more than 56 percent of the vote in Cobb County.

Another lawsuit was filed in Georgia on Wednesday by Trump supporters alleging voter fraud, and naming two of the state’s top Republican leaders—Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

The lawsuit also seeks to dismiss the Georgia election results. The Cobb County Courier reported Friday that the Cobb County Republican Committee voted to join the lawsuit as a plaintiff, and quoted county GOP chairman Jason Shepherd as saying that party leaders “believe that there are issues in this election which can only be sorted out in a court of law. An issue as important as the integrity of a Presidential election deserves to have evidence heard in a court of law, not a court of public opinion.”

Over the past week, Cobb Elections has been accused by Trump supporters of shredding ballots. Elections director Janine Eveler said last week that documents “not relevant” to the election were shredded after the hand count, but no ballots.

On Monday, a video posted on social media claimed ballots were being shredded at the Cobb Elections headquarters, but the county said the shredding was routine and involved materials from the Cobb Tax Commissioner’s Office.

In both instances the allegations were posted on Twitter by Lin Wood, an Atlanta attorney and Trump supporter who has repeatedly claimed that Trump won the presidential race by a landslide.