An audit of more than 15,000 signatures in Georgia’s Cobb County didn’t find a single fraudulent absentee ballot, according to a report by the state’s secretary of state’s office.
The audit came after a hand recount and an electronic recount, which affirmed that Joe Biden won the November matchup against President Trump. The results of the audit contradict Trump’s allegations of widespread voter fraud, specifically that absentee ballots were rife with fraud. Multiple lawsuits filed over such claims have been dismissed in various courts for lack of adequate evidence and standing.
“The Secretary of State’s office has always been focused on calling balls and strikes in elections and, in this case, three strikes against the voter fraud claims and they’re out,” Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said Tuesday in a written statement. “We conducted a statewide hand recount that reaffirmed the initial tally, and a machine recount at the request of the Trump campaign that also reaffirmed the original rally. This audit disproves the only credible allegations the Trump campaign had against the strength of Georgia’s signature match.”
Raffensperger announced the Cobb County signature match audit on Dec. 14 following “credible allegations that the process was not followed” in the June primaries.
His office worked with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to conduct the audit.
Of the 150,431 absentee ballots received by Cobb County election officials during the November elections, the audit reviewed 15,118 of them, or 10%, from randomly selected boxes. The sample size was chosen to meet the 99% confidence threshold.
The audit found “no fraudulent absentee ballots,” Raffensperger said. “In one case, the ballot was mistakenly signed by the elector’s spouse, and in the other, the voter reported signing the front of the envelope only,” Raffensperger said.
In both cases, the voters filled out the actual ballots themselves.
The results of the audit didn’t seem to sway Trump’s belief that the election was stolen from him. He has repeatedly blamed Raffensperger and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican Trump once endorsed, for his loss.
I love the Great State of Georgia, but the people who run it, from the Governor, @BrianKempGA, to the Secretary of State, are a complete disaster and don’t have a clue, or worse. Nobody can be this stupid. Just allow us to find the crime, and turn the state Republican….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 30, 2020
