Raffensperger defends Georgia's election integrity law against last-minute changes that delay election results

Secretary Raffensperger defended Georgia's election integrity laws and condemned the last-minute attempt to push through new activist legislation that would undermine key provisions of Georgia's Election Integrity Law (SB 202) and other reforms such as SB 189:

Since taking office, Secretary Raffensperger has supported reforms that increase voter confidence in elections. The Secretary was proud to work with the General Assembly to require photo ID for absentee ballots, expedite the reporting and certification of election results, strengthen chain of custody procedures, and implement rigorous citizenship verification to ensure only U.S. citizens can vote in our elections. Because of these efforts, Georgia was ranked as having the best election integrity measures in the country by the Heritage Foundation.

“Activists seeking to force last-minute changes to the election process outside of the legislative process are undermining voter confidence and burdening election workers,” said Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. “The General Assembly knew that a quick announcement of results and certification was paramount to voter confidence, so it passed SB 202. However, misguided attempts by the State Board of Elections will delay election results and undermine chain of evidence safeguards. Georgia voters reject this last-minute chaos, and so should the unelected members of the State Board of Elections.”

One of the most important election integrity measures the General Assembly introduced in both SB 202 and SB 189 are procedures to ensure prompt and accurate reporting of results. Prompt reporting of results is a hallmark of Georgia election administration and builds voter confidence. Delays in reporting results create a vacuum that leads to misinformation and disinformation.

Georgia voters have the right to be confident that election results will be announced in a timely manner on election night, as required by SB 202 and SB 189. Misguided attempts to impose new procedures such as manually counting ballots at polling places make it likely that Georgia citizens will not know the results on election night. In addition, the handling of ballots by poll workers at the polling place introduces a new and significant risk to evidence preservation procedures. Georgia law already provides secure evidence preservation protocols for ballot handling, and attempts by unelected bureaucrats to change those laws on the eve of the election create the risk of errors, lost or stolen ballots, and fraud.

The Secretary of State's office traveled across the state this year, working with county election officials to conduct on-site audits and inspections designed to ensure the state's voting machines are secure and functioning. Each of Georgia's 159 counties passed the test. Georgia's voter rolls are the cleanest in the country, and Secretary Raffensperger is the first Secretary of State to conduct a citizenship audit to ensure only U.S. citizens are eligible to vote in Georgia's elections. The Secretary of State's office has also coordinated simulations between county election officials, law enforcement, and cybersecurity partners to strengthen the security of our election processes. These misguided, last-minute changes by unelected bureaucrats who have never run an election and appear to ignore the advice of anyone who has could cause serious problems in an election that would otherwise be secure and accurate.