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April 17, 2024
ATLANTA- Coalition for Good Governance (“CGG”) filed a formal request with the Georgia State Election Board to amend the current recount rule to require manual recounts in compliance with Georgia election law and best practices. The request seeks a hearing on the proposed rule at the Board’s upcoming meeting May 7, 2024.
CGG states that Georgia statutes enacted in 2019 as part of HB316 require that the text printed on the BMD touchscreen-generated ballots be tabulated in a recount of election results, but that the 2020 State Election Board rule improperly requires a machine re-tabulation of the QR code on such ballots. CGG seeks a rule amendment to correct this error. CGG’s support for the requested change is detailed in the letter sent to the Board today.
“The statute and legislative intent is clear. Georgia’s General Assembly ordered recounts be conducted manually. The Election Rules and election procedures should comply with the law. Georgia is likely facing close races in 2024 where recounts may be common. It is critical that Georgia’s election procedures earn public confidence in the accuracy and transparency of the final official results, and strictly comply with law to reduce 2024 post-election controversies,” said Marilyn Marks, Executive Director of CGG.
Marks noted that CGG does not support hand counting of ballots for the initial count of ballots in most elections, given the likelihood of human error, time required, chain of custody risk, and delays in reporting results. CGG supports the use of optical scanner counting of hand marked ballots to tabulate initial official results, with robust audits conducted to confirm the outcomes. The proposed hand recount rule CGG filed applies only to recounts, when it is especially critical to obtain maximum accuracy, according to CGG.
CGG’s proposed rule adds provisions to the current rule to permit each candidate to appoint watchers to closely observe all aspects of the recount. It would also make ballot images of the machine counted ballots publicly available before a recount. “These transparency measures can increase confidence and reduce post-election controversy when the candidates, their parties, the press, and voters can scrutinize the details of the tabulation.
Importantly, we are consistent and clear in our stance that computer-marked ballots such as the BMD ballots are not trustworthy records of voter intent, whether the human readable text or the QR code is tabulated. We provided compelling science-based evidence of that fact in the recent Curling v Raffensperger trial concerning the security failures of the BMD system. However, until such time as the official votes are recorded by hand on trustworthy ballots, and counted by scanners, testing the QR code tabulations by manual recount at least provides for mathematical accuracy of the tallies of the official vote printed on the ballot in text,” said Marks.
CGG and several of its members protested the February 2020 State Election Board decision to conduct recounts by machine tabulation of the QR codes, which they stated at the time was in conflict with state statute enacted in 2019. Recounts have been conducted primarily by machine count of the QR code since the adoption of the SEB Recount Rule, which CGG seeks to have amended with its petition.
Marks added, “If the Georgia POTUS election recount had been conducted by manual count in compliance with state law, rather than by machine count of the QR codes following the Secretary of State’s flawed non-compliant “audit,” it is likely that far less controversy concerning the outcome would have followed. Former President Trump’s supporters would have been able to verify the QR code tabulation, and the campaign could have inspected and counted every ballot by naming a representative to each multi-partisan recount team. Any discrepancies in the count could have been resolved in public view. Former President Trump had the ability to request a hand recount under the Election Code by seeking a court order, and Secretary Raffensperger had the discretion and duty to order a hand recount under state statute. Curiously, neither of them chose to seek this level of verification of the tabulation called for in Georgia law. Bluster and inaccurate claims flowed from both sides. Our rule proposal filed today would force accountability, even if neither the candidate nor State Officials support such transparency. We don’t want a repeat of 2020 controversies. Transparent and legally compliant recount rules are one step in that direction.”
Coalition for Good Governance is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization focused on election security, integrity, transparency and voter privacy.
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