Cobb County elections: Officials take stock of what went right, future improvements

Tuesday was the deadline for all Georgia counties to certify the election results. At a board of elections meeting where Cobb County certified its election results, board members talked about some of the issues that came up.

There were some equipment problems, including scanner jams and poll pads not synching. There were also some discrepancies along the way, including a couple of ballots that were scanned twice.

There was also one voter who voted twice. Cobb Elections Director Tate Fall says that it was a combination of poll pads not synching and an elderly man who may have been confused.

"He voted in our regular voting room, and then he left and 10 minutes later he checked in and voted in our elderly and disabled room," said Fall.

More than 406,000 voters in Cobb County cast their ballots in this election. That's more than 78% of the registered voters.

Fall says the biggest issue, the scramble to get 3,400 requested absentee ballots in the mail at the last minute. It was tough, but with the help of other Cobb County employees, poll workers and volunteers, along with UPS and the US Postal Service, they managed to overnight the ballots.

"They opened up at 3 a.m. and the main post office and 4 a.m. at the Gresham Road post office. They were able to get those all scanned in and processed before they opened for their normal hours of business," said Fall.

About a third of those absentee ballots were returned by election day.

"The Postmaster of Marietta, himself, was delivering the last tray of ballots at 6:55 p.m. on Election Day," said Fall.

Fall says there will now be some changes to make sure something like this doesn't happen again.

"We're passed how can we fix the current system, and we're going to tear it down to the studs and completely rebuild," said Fall.