County election officials across Georgia hand counted randomly selected ballots as part of a statewide audit of the May 19th General Primary and Nonpartisan General Election, according to an announcement by Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on June 3. The audit focused on confirming the accuracy of results for the Republican US Senate and Democratic Governor’s races, marking the first time two contests were chosen for a statewide Risk Limiting Audit.
A risk limit of 5 percent was set for this audit, which state officials said is among the most stringent in jurisdictions conducting such audits. In total, 706 batches were counted during the process. The hand-counted results showed over 99 percent alignment with machine counts, remaining within what officials described as an expected margin of error for manual tabulation.
Raffensperger praised local election directors for their work throughout all 159 counties. “The results of this audit are a testament to the dedication and precision of our local election officials across all of Georgia’s 159 counties,” Raffensperger said. “Our election officials have once again provided the public with clear, verifiable confirmation of the election outcomes.”
Audit summary data and supporting documentation—including ballot manifests and machine batch tallies—were made available to provide transparency into the process. Officials noted that batch tallies could be independently verified using a SHA256 hash matched to a tweet from Raffensperger dated May 28 at 11:52 AM.
This latest risk limiting audit is part of ongoing efforts by state authorities to ensure public confidence in Georgia’s electoral process.
