An audit of Georgia’s voting machines turned up no signs of “foul play,” according to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
Raffensperger, who is facing attacks from President Trump and his allies, announced on Tuesday afternoon that Pro V&V, a U.S. Election Assistance Commission-certified testing laboratory, found “no evidence of the machines being tampered” through a review of a random sample of machines used in the state.
“We are glad but not surprised that the audit of the state’s voting machines was an unqualified success,” Raffensperger said. “Election security has been a top priority since day one of my administration. We have partnered with the Department of Homeland Security, the Georgia Cyber Center, Georgia Tech security experts, and wide range of other election security experts around the state and country so Georgia voters can be confident that their vote is safe and secure.”
The audit focused on a random sample of Dominion Voting Systems voting machines throughout the state, including equipment from Cobb, Douglas, Floyd, Morgan, Paulding, and Spalding counties.
The president and his supporters allege widespread voter fraud in battleground states projected to go to President-elect Joe Biden and are waging a series of legal challenges, including in Georgia, to keep his election chances alive. Some have raised questions about the integrity of voting machines, particularly from Dominion.
The company released a statement disputing “false assertions” about vote-switching. And as state officials have pinned problems that have arisen with the vote-counting process on human error, Trump’s own election security agency said there was no evidence to suggest the 2020 contest was insecure.
The close presidential election in Georgia led to a manual recount in the state. Election officials on Monday found 2,600 previously uncounted votes in Floyd County, a problem blamed on human error. Trump stood to have a net gain of 800 votes, but with Biden leading the incumbent in Georgia by about 14,000 votes before the recount, it would take a lot more than that to flip the state to Trump.
More than 100 counties have until 11:59 p.m. Wednesday to complete their recount. The results will be finalized on Friday.
Raffensperger, a Republican, has been subject to accusations by Trump and other members of his own party of mishandling the vote count. Among those critics was is Rep. Doug Collins, who unsuccessfully ran for Georgia’s special election Senate race and after was tapped by Trump to lead Georgia’s recount effort.
Collins accused Raffensperger of siding with Democrats for not forcefully pushing allegations of widespread voter fraud. Raffensperger called Collins a “liar” and a “charlatan.”
In addition to the presidential contest, Georgia is being closely watched for how its two Senate races play out, with both heading to runoffs in January and the balance of power in the upper chamber at stake.
So far, Republicans will have a hold on 50 seats for the next term, while the Democrats have 46, along with two independents who caucus with them. Should Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock defeat incumbent GOP Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, the Senate will be split 50-50, and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris would act as a tiebreaker.
