A GBI audit of more than 15,000 absentee ballot envelopes in Cobb County found no evidence of voter fraud, state election officials say. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger released the findings of the signature match audit on December 29, two weeks after initiating the audit to address “credible allegations” the signature match process was not followed in the June primaries.
Law enforcement officers from the GBI and Secretary of State’s Office conducted the audit. Of the 150,431 absentee ballots received by Cobb County elections officials during the November elections, auditors reviewed 15,118 absentee oath envelopes from randomly selected boxes or around 10% of the total.
The audit report states “No fraudulent absentee ballots were identified during the audit.” The audit found there were two ballots that should have been identified by Cobb County Elections Officials for cure notification that weren’t. In one case, the ballot was mistakenly signed by the elector’s spouse and in the other, the voter reported signing the front of the envelope only. In both cases, auditors determined the identified voters filled out the ballots themselves.
“Based on the results of the audit, the Cobb County Elections Department had a 99.99% accuracy rate in performing correct signature verification procedures,” the report states.
How the audit was conducted
To conduct the audit, law enforcement officers from the GBI and Secretary of State’s Office were instructed to analyze and compare the known signatures, markings, and identifying information of the elector as stored in databases with the signature, markings, and identifying information on the elector’s absentee ballot oath envelope. They looked for distinctive characteristics and unique qualities to determine whether the signatures on the envelope matched the registered voters’ known signatures.
Officers conducting the audit were split into 18 two-member teams identified as ‘inspection teams’ and two three-member teams identified as ‘investigation teams.’ “If the two members of the inspection team were split on whether a ballot signature was valid, a third impartial ‘referee’ was brought in to break the tie,” the press release states. “This only happened on six occasions.”
In cases where additional review was necessary, if no signature was on the ballot, or if additional identification documents were not available, the absentee ballots were given to the investigation teams to track down more information.
The inspection teams submitted 396 envelopes to the investigation teams for comparison with additional documents or follow-up with the elector. Of those, 386 were accepted as valid. The remaining ten were referred for additional investigation. All ten electors were located, positively identified, and interviewed, according to the Secretary of State’s Office.
Law officers used the Cobb County Elections Database which included signature information from voter registration forms, absentee ballot applications, voter certificates, passports, certificates of naturalization, in addition to other documents.
Third strike
The signature match audit marks the third time Georgia’s presidential election outcome has been reaffirmed by dismissing unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud. Prior to the audit, a statewide hand recount reaffirmed President-elect Joe Biden’s win and a machine recount at the request of the Trump campaign also reaffirmed that outcome.
“The Secretary of State’s office has always been focused on calling balls and strikes in elections and, in this case, three strikes against the voter fraud claims and they’re out,” says Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, referring to the Trump campaign and Republican loyalists who continue to claim the election was stolen through fraudulent voting. “This audit disproves the only credible allegations the Trump campaign had against the strength of Georgia’s signature match processes.”
Georgia was one of five key swing states that helped elect Joe Biden as president. He defeated Trump in Georgia by 11,779 votes. Biden’s win marks the first time the Peach State has gone for a Democrat in the presidential election since Bill Clinton in 1992.
To view the full GBI/SOS audit report, click here.
