Georgia Counties Start Audit Of Presidential Race, As Ballots Are Counted By Hand
Dozens of workers in Cobb County count ballots by hand as part of a statewide audit of the presidential race.
Emil Moffatt
Counties across Georgia have begun the task of counting nearly 5 million ballots by hand as part of a statewide audit of the presidential race. They face a Wednesday night deadline to complete their count.
State officials selected the extremely close presidential race for a statewide audit, including a hand count of all the ballots. It’s the first time an audit like this has been done in Georgia.
Janine Eveler, elections director in Cobb County, says dozens of workers will be counting through the weekend and they may add more staff depending on how much progress is made.
“We’re going to have to assess that. We don’t want to be in a hurry and a rush because we want a very methodical process,” Eveler said. “Which is why we spent so much time explaining to the folks, because they’ve never done it before.”
Cobb started the process Friday morning with dozens of workers spread out at tables, sorting ballots into bins featuring the names of the presidential candidates.
Joe Biden and Donald Trump are separated by just 14,000 votes in Georgia with Biden in the lead.
Eveler says she expects a slightly different number to come out of the audit.
“I’m sure it will change because people doing a hand count, there’s more reason to think they will make, human error,” said Eveler. “That’s one thing that machines are really good at, is counting. So, we’ll see what we end up getting. I don’t think it will be large numbers.”
Fulton and DeKalb counties are expected to begin the actual ballot counting process on Saturday.
The state is expected to certify the election late next week after the audit is done.
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