Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced Thursday that his office will partner with the University of Georgia to conduct a statewide audit of mail-in ballot signatures.
“We are confident that elections in Georgia are secure, reliable, and effective,” Raffensperger said in a statement. “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.”
Raffensperger previously said an audit of mail-in ballots would be conducted in Cobb County, the state’s third-most populous county, after his office received a report that signatures may not have been properly verified in the county during the state’s primary election. Raffensperger did not say whether his office had received similar complaints regarding the Nov. 3 general election.
UGA’s School of Public and International Affairs will conduct research during the statewide audit, including “a randomized signature match study of election materials handled at the county level in the November 3 Presidential contest.” Researchers will also examine the county-level processes used to match signatures on absentee ballots and their envelopes.
Raffensperger’s office said the research will be “forward-looking” and will help election authorities streamline future elections in the state. In a press release earlier this week, Raffensperger said the audits “will not change the outcome of the November election.”
President-elect Joe Biden won the state of Georgia by a slim 12,000-vote margin, helping him clinch 306 votes in the Electoral College and paving his way to the White House.
President Trump has been a vocal critic of Georgia’s election officials and Gov. Brian Kemp since the election, pressuring them in a number of tweets to overturn the results and telling Kemp to convince Georgia’s Legislature to hold a special election. On Tuesday, Trump retweeted a post from attorney Lin Wood saying that Kemp and Raffensperger “will soon be going to jail” for resisting his exhortations.
President Trump @realDonaldTrump is a genuinely good man. He does not really like to fire people. I bet he dislikes putting people in jail, especially “Republicans.”
He gave @BrianKempGA & @GaSecofState every chance to get it right. They refused. They will soon be going to jail. pic.twitter.com/7PMBLc8L2N
— Lin Wood (@LLinWood) December 15, 2020
