Latest on Georgia election audits, certification timelines
ATLANTA, Ga. (WJBF) – A Georgia judge says several new rules passed by the state election board are illegal, unconstitutional and void.
The judge says county election board members cannot block election certification based on their own suspicion of fraud or error and counties must certify elections by the deadline placed in law.
Despite numerous audits in the 2020 election, Georgia's Secretary of State says there were no examples of widespread voter fraud. With new software and tools in place, state election leaders are confident that voting will be safe and transparent.
"For all the people who love election data, you can google election data hub Georgia that will show data that is ongoing and updated continuously," said Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
All audits are conducted by hand count by manually inspecting random samples of the paper official ballots. A report of provisional ballots and absentee ballots is due by midnight on Election Day.
In Georgia — the county elections superintendent must certify the election by Tuesday 5 p.m. — one week after election day — and transfer that to the Secretary of State.
November 14th is the last day to request a recount for the general election.
On November 14th and 15th, the secretary of state will pick one random federal or state race for a risk limiting audit.
"Making the laws even better, and the county's team, we have tested the machine before and during," said Gabe Sterling, state voting implementation manager. "We have audits before and we have a new tool as well. We feel like we have done everything we can to be transparent and show the people no matter who wins, the secretary says that's up to the voters. We are here just to report the final results."
November 22nd is the last day for the secretary of state to certify the state's election results.
Presidential electors have until 5 p.m. on the 17th day following the election, where the secretary of state will certify the votes cast before the governor, and the governor will certify the presidential electors no later than 5 p.m. on the 18th day following the election.
Https://sos.Ga.Gov/page/how-request-investigation
