Election workers in Georgia’s 159 counties are conducting a hand recount of nearly 5 million ballots in the state’s presidential race.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger ordered the recount as part of the state’s risk-limiting audit. In an audit, manual counts are used to determine if machine-tabulated results are accurate. Normally a percentage of ballots are selected, but in this case, Raffensperger ordered all ballots to be recounted in the presidential race after the Trump campaign requested a pre-certification hand recount.
The state’s top election official says the Trump campaign did not influence his decision. However, Raffensperger, a Republican, clearly wants to put to rest still unproven claims of widespread voter fraud in Georgia.
“Transparency is indispensable for ensuring confidence in the outcome of Georgia’s elections, which is why I have instructed county elections officials to ensure political party monitors can watch every step of the way,” says Raffensperger.
The Secretary of State’s Office encouraged counties to livestream their recounts when possible.
“Transparency should be a guiding principle in how counties are conducting the audit,” he says. “While there are rules in place that allow counties to keep order, the more transparency they can provide the better while still ensuring an orderly process.”
Biden still leads in Georgia
Based on the state’s initial vote count, several national news outlets have already projected Joe Biden the winner. As of early Saturday, Nov. 14, the President-elect was ahead of Trump in Georgia by more than 14,000 votes.
In Habersham County, election workers gathered at the Ruby C. Fulbright Aquatic Center in Clarkesville on Friday to start recounting the ballots.
In White County, election officials moved quickly through their recount Friday, completing the absentee ballots within two hours, according to White County Chief Voter Registrar Lisa Manning.
They will continue the process Monday at 9 a.m.
“At that time, we will count the advance voting ballots and plan to count the election day ballots on Tuesday,” Manning says.
Habersham County Election Supervisor Laurel Ellison has not responded to our email request for information about the audit/recount and upcoming runoff.
Deadlines
The counties have until 11:59 p.m. next Wednesday, November 18, to complete their audit/recounts. The public and media are allowed to observe from restricted viewing areas. Designated monitors from each party may stand close to the election workers to view the process more closely.
State election officials are not going to release interim tallies. They said they would release the results once the hand tally is complete. Those are the results they will use to certify the election.
Under Georgia law, the Secretary of State’s office must certify statewide election results by November 20.
Once the election is certified, if either candidate trails by less than half a percentage point, that candidate may still request an official recount.
Dean Dyer of WRWH Radio contributed to the report
