Georgia election workers are wrapping up their risk-limiting audit and manual recount of ballots cast in the November 3 presidential election.
In Northeast Georgia, Habersham, Stephens, and White are among the counties that have already submitted their tallies to the Secretary of State’s Office.
White County Election Superintendent Garrison Baker says their results “are exactly what we certified to the Secretary of State last week, so our vote totals didn’t change. The audit clearly shows that our system is working properly, and I’m satisfied with the result.”
Even though the actual numbers in White County didn’t change, Baker said they did have one vote that switched from Trump to Biden and another flipped from Biden to Trump.
In nearby Stephens County, Registrar Eureka Gober says their audit also went smoothly, telling reporters there was no evidence of voter fraud.
Habersham County Election Supervisor Laurel Ellison has not responded to Now Habersham’s questions about the recount. The county’s public information officer did issue a brief statement announcing the completion of Habersham’s audit but offered no insight into whether any discrepancies were found.
Looming deadlines; tamper-free voting machines
Georgia county election officials have until 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, November 18, to complete their audits. Georgia law requires the Secretary of State to certify statewide election results by November 20.
Once the results are certified, a losing candidate may request a recount if they’re within half a percentage point of the winner. If a candidate for federal or state office petitions the Secretary of State regarding a suspected error or discrepancy, the Secretary of State can ask for a recount. If either happens, election officials would have to count the votes again, but next time they would use a machine.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced Tuesday that U.S. Election Assistance Commission-certified testing laboratory, Pro V&V, completed its audit of a random sampling of state voting machines. “Pro V&V found no evidence of the machines being tampered [with],” he said.
According to Raffensperger, all of the software and firmware on the sampled machines were verified to be the software and firmware certified for use by the Secretary of State’s Office. He says those findings confirm the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency assessment that there are no signs of cyber attacks or election hacking.
