Secretary of State Calls for Risk Limiting Audit by County Election Offices

On Wednesday, Nov. 11, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger held a press conference in which he announced he would call for a Risk Limiting Audit (RLA) on all votes cast for U.S. President in Georgia.  According to Secretary Raffensperger, county elections offices must complete this audit by November 20, 2020, the same date the state is required to certify the election.

Following the state’s certification of the election on November 20, 2020, a candidate may then call for a recount if the results are within one half of one percent.  This recount would entail scanning all the ballots cast in the state.  While this process would still require a great deal of work, scanning these ballots is much easier and less costly.   

Secretary Raffensperger also announced that the election runoff scheduled for December 1, 2020 will be moved to January 5, 2020 to align with the runoff election for the Senate seats.  Having to administer a single runoff election process would save counties money and create administrative efficiencies for election staff. 

ACCG understands that this situation raises many questions for county officials and election offices.  The Secretary of State’s office held an audit training session with county election directors on Thursday, November 12, 2020.  We encourage you to reach out to your election director and monitor the information that he or she is receiving from the Secretary of State’s Office.  ACCG will continue to monitor this situation and share more information as soon as it becomes available.

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