Georgia secretary of state announces results of election signature match audit



Georgia's secretary of state announced the results of the signature match audit of ballots in Cobb County in order to quell fears of election fraud in the 2020 presidential election.

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger had been excoriated by many in the media and on social media for dismissing claims of voter fraud. On Dec. 14, he announced a signature match audit in order to reestablish Georgians' faith in the state's balloting system.

Two weeks later, that audit in Cobb County was completed.

Raffensperger said only two mismatched signatures were found among the more than 15,000 signatures audited. He said the inaccuracy came from a wife who signed the ballots for herself and her husband.

"It really shows you and should give voters confidence that there's accuracy and integrity, and security, in the absentee ballot process so we're really grateful for GBI's support," Raffensperger said to WSB-TV.

The signature match audit was the first of its kind in Georgia.

The audit involved state election investigators examining thousands of ballot envelopes and matching the signatures with those in public state records.

While Raffensperger defended the state's ability to conduct the 2020 election in a fair and secure manner, he has advocated against Georgia's no excuse absentee voting and wants restrictions on who can vote by absentee ballot.

"It's a huge burden for the counties. In effect, what we are asking the counties to do is run three elections, one with absentee voting early voting and then Election Day," Raffensperger explained.

In November, he defended the signature match system during an interview on MSNBC.

"Many people don't realize that it requires you to do your signature twice, once for the application, we signature match then, and a second time when your ballot comes back in, then we'll signature match that," he explained.

President-elect Joe Biden won Georgia by roughly 12,000 votes.

President Donald Trump and his legal team continue to challenge the election results in court, with the latest one challenging the Wisconsin Supreme Court decision.

Here's more about the audit in Georgia:

Georgia Secretary of State wants to get rid of no-excuse absentee votingwww.youtube.com

Georgia secretary of state announces plans to finally conduct statewide signature-match review



At long last, Republican Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced on Thursday that his office would be conducting a statewide review of signature matching that took place during the Nov. 3 presidential election.

What are the details?

The news followed an earlier announcement that the secretary of state's office would be cooperating with the Georgia Bureau of Investigations to conduct a limited signature matching review in Cobb County, the state's third most populous county, after President Donald Trump and his allies for weeks advocated for such a review.

"Now that the signature matching has been attacked again and again with no evidence, I feel we need to take steps to restore confidence in our elections," Raffensperger told reporters Monday.

In a news release providing more details about the forthcoming statewide audit, the secretary of state's office said that they would be working with the University of Georgia on a "randomized signature match study of election materials handled at the county level in the November 3 Presidential contest."

"This work will also include research on processes used at the county level to perform signature-matching," the news release added. "The work UGA will perform is a study of a sample of signed envelopes in each county from the presidential election."

"We are confident that elections in Georgia are secure, reliable, and effective," Raffensperger said. "Despite endless lawsuits and wild allegations from Washington, D.C. pundits, we have seen no actual evidence of widespread voter fraud, though we are investigating all credible reports. Nonetheless, we look forward to working with the University of Georgia on this signature match review to further instill confidence in Georgia's voting systems."

What else?

The news release noted that the review is intended to be "forward-looking," indicating that results would not affect the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, but rather would serve to "inform and optimize election administration for future electoral contests." The Cobb County review alone is slated to take two weeks.

Raffensperger and Republican Gov. Brian Kemp certified election results on Nov. 20 showing Democratic challenger Joe Biden defeating President Trump in the state to secure the Georgia's 16 Electoral College votes. The official tabulation showed Biden edging Trump in the state by just under 13,000 votes.

Trump and his allies have maintained that Biden's victory in the state is the result of rampant fraudulent activity. Trump has repeatedly pressured officials in the state to conduct an audit of signature matching, saying if a full review were done he would win the state "easily."

In Georgia, as in many of the battleground states, post-election data showed the overall rejection rate for mail-in votes in November to be significantly lower than in previous elections, raising the potential that fraudulent votes were counted. But, according to Georgia election officials, that decrease was not due to the acceptance of ballots with signature problems.