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Hand recount possible in presidential race in Georgia

The Georgia Sec. of State says it could take two weeks to recount the ballots by hand.

ATLANTA — Georgia’s presidential election could face a two-week long hand recount – if President Trump’s representatives get what they want.  

Such a recount could potentially extend the final tally of the election into the Thanksgiving holiday. 

President Trump's representative in Georgia says he's OK with that. 

The state's system of ballot recounts leans on electronic scanners, which scan absentee ballots and the paper ballots produced by the state's new voting machines. 

RELATED: Here's what the Trump team is requesting for the Georgia recount process

Hand recounts are supposed to be atypical.

But President Trump’s team is asking the state for a hand recount of all the nearly five million votes cast in the presidential race.  And secretary of state Brad Raffensperger says a hand-recount is do-able, albeit likely very slow.

"We have the paper. We follow state law," Raffensperger told 11Alive News Tuesday.  "A hand recount? (It would take) over a week, maybe two weeks. It’s a very long process. I know we would bring in extra staff. But you're talking about five million ballots."

Asked if he's familiar with how long a hand recount would take, US Rep. Doug Collins said "I’m very familiar with that."  Collins is the Trump campaign's representative in Georgia.

RELATED: When will a recount start in Georgia?

"This doesn’t have anything to do with sour grapes or extending the election. It’s just making sure every vote counts and making sure we have a process people can actually trust," Collins told 11Alive News Tuesday.

Collins and Raffensperger both say they’ve found isolated instances of potential voter fraud – but Raffensperger says it’s not enough to change the outcome so far.

RELATED: When will Georgia have official election results?

It would be Raffensperger’s decision on whether to do a lengthy and somewhat costly hand recount of the presidential race – a decision he says he will make later this week.

For voters who want to report cases of fraud to President Trump's team in Georgia, the hotline number is 470-410-8793.

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