State Summary

In 2024, the Georgia legislature passed House Bill 974, which revised Georgia’s audit provisions in Ga. Code § 21-2-498 so that, as of July 2024, the statute requires “precertification risk-limiting audits.” Ga. Code § 21-2-498(b). The statute expands the number of contests subject to a risk-limiting audit, requiring one race in addition to the race at the top of the ballot to be selected as a contest for auditing. Ga. Code § 21-2-498(a)(4)(B). The process to select the additional contest is outlined in Ga. Code § 21-2-498(d). The statute also provides the maximum allowed risk limit over the next four years and beyond with an eight percent risk-limit in 2024, six percent in 2026, and five percent or less in 2028 and thereafter. Ga. Code § 21-2-498(a)(2). Additionally, the statute calls for the Secretary of State to create a pilot program to audit paper ballots using optical character recognition. Ga. Code § 21-2-498.1.
Unless otherwise specified, statutory references are to Ga. Code § 21-2-498.

Voting Systems Used

Georgia uses ballot marking devices for all voters with optical scanners in polling places statewide. For the most up to date information please visit Verified Voting’s Verifier.

For an explanation on the types of voting equipment used, click here.

Audit Comprehensiveness

All ballots are subject to audit. The audit should be “conducted by manual inspection of random samples of the paper official ballots.” Ga. Code § 21-2-498(b). All ballot types are audited, including those cast in person, by absentee ballot, early voting, and provisional ballots. Ga. Code § 21-2-498(c)(2).

Transparency

Local election superintendents must conduct each audit in public view and provide details of the audit to the public within 48 hours of completion. Ga. Code § 21-2-498(c).

Audit Counting Method

The audit is conducted using a hand count only. Audits are conducted by “manual inspection of random samples of the paper official ballots.” Ga. Code § 21-2-498(b).

Type Of Audit Units

The statute does not preclude any type of audit unit, only requiring “manual inspection of random samples of the paper official ballots.” Ga. Code § 21-2-498(b). In 2024 and 2022, Georgia conducted audits of randomly sampled batches; RLA pilots in 2019 and 2020 sampled individual ballots.

Contests & Issues Audited

Audits are required “on selected contests following any election, special election, election runoff, special election runoff, primary, special primary, primary runoff, or special primary runoff with presidential, United States Senate, or state-wide contests in accordance with requirements set forth by rule or regulation of the State Election Board.” Ga. Code § 21-2-498(b). This includes the contest at the top of the ballot and one of the following contests: United States Senate, Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, State School Superintendent, Commissioner of Insurance, Commissioner of Agriculture, Commissioner of Labor, Supreme Court Justice, Judge of the Court of Appeals, or Public Service Commissioner, provided that such selected contest is not the race at the top of the ballot.”  Ga. Code § 21-2-498(A) (4) (B). If more than one of these races qualify for a risk-limiting audit, the second contest, “shall be selected by majority vote of the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the minority leader of the Senate, and the minority leader of the House of Representatives” by 11:00 A.M. on the Thursday immediately following election day. If the majority vote cannot be obtained timely, the chairperson of the State Election Board shall select the second contest.

County election officials may also audit additional contests at their discretion, using a tabulation or risk-limiting audit. § 21-2-498(f).

Addressing Discrepancies

Ga. Code § 21-2-498 allows the use of “precertification risk-limiting audits” and applies to any election, special election, election runoff, special election runoff, primary, special primary, primary runoff, or special primary runoff with presidential, United States Senate, or state-wide contests…” Ga. Code § 21-2-498. According to Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 183-1-15-.04(2), “The audit shall end once all selected ballots have been counted and the risk limit for the audit has been met.” 

For recount laws, please visit our Recount Law Database.

Timeline

The audits are conducted before the final certification of the contest and completed before election results are finalized. Ga. Code Ann. § 21-2-498(b).

Binding On Official Outcomes

In conducting each audit, the local election superintendents must complete the audit prior to final certification of the contest. Ga. Code Ann. § 21-2-498(b). The statute does not specify whether the results are binding on the official results. In November 2020, Georgia conducted a full hand count RLA of the presidential contest, which did not change the outcome—but the hand count results did not replace the originally reported results. It thus remains unclear whether audit results are binding.

Oversight & Conduct

The State Election Board establishes requirements for the audits in rule, while local election superintendents conduct the audits. Ga. Code § 21-2-498(b). Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 183-1-15-.04(1)3 gives the secretary of state the authority to select the contest for audit.

Ballot Protection

The “chain of custody for each ballot shall be maintained at all times during the audit, including but not limited to a log of the seal numbers on the ballot containers before and after completing the manual audit.” Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 183-1-15-.04(2). 

Georgia election code also includes broader ballot protection measures, which are specific to precincts using pre-printed paper ballots or those employing optical scanners. We include a summary of both sections of code here, although for precinct voting, note that all Georgia counties use BMD-produced ballots that are scanned on optical scanners. For precincts using optical scanners, upon closure of the polls, poll workers must either seal the ballot box and deliver it to a central tabulating center or, for locations with precinct scanners, immediately feed any ballots from the “auxiliary compartment of the ballot box” into an on-site tabulator. Ga Code § 21-2-485. For precincts using pre-printed paper ballots, “after the polls are closed and the last elector has voted in precincts in which ballots are used, at least two poll officers shall remain within the enclosed space.” Ga Code § 21-2-436.

Additional Targeted Samples

The statute does not provide for targeted samples.

Resources

Ga. Code Ann. § 21-2-498: Audit statute

Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 183-1-15-.04: Audit rule

Ga Code § 21-2-485; Ga Code § 21-2-436: Ballot protection

Last updated: October 11, 2024