Irwin County to scan ballots May 28 and conduct full hand-tally May 29 for May 21 election
April 01, 2024 | Irwin County , Georgia
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The Irwin County Board of Elections & Registrations announced a public ballot-scanning ceremony on May 28 and a full hand-tally audit of all ballots cast in the May 21 general primary and special election on May 29.
Board materials and public remarks at the April 9 meeting said the May 28 event will scan sub-batches of ballots at 600 dpi to prepare for a Risk-Limiting Audit and will be open for public observation. The board said it adjusted its procedures in response to recently passed changes to open-records laws concerning ballot images and expressed concern about the Georgia General Assembly’s authority to affect court seals of documents without a judge’s order.
Elections staff reported that printed ballots and project materials arrived April 4 and that Logic and Accuracy testing is scheduled to start at 10:00 a.m. on April 16 and will run until completed. Ballot-proofing earlier in the year produced two sets with errors — including incorrect pronunciations in audio ballots for blind voters and a failure to label many incumbent candidates properly — and a third set of proofs was approved on March 28.
The board said it will perform a full hand tally of all May 21 ballots on May 29 because the Secretary of State’s Office is not required to conduct a statewide audit for this election. The county called for three volunteers from each county party to help with the tally and set an expected window of 9:00 a.m. to noon for the work, allowing an extra hour compared with earlier estimates.
The board also described procedural steps to accommodate the law changes without additional time or financial cost, including using a desktop scanner previously assigned to the county commission administrative staff for the higher-resolution scans. The board said the office will make the scanning event available for public observation as ballots are prepared for the Risk-Limiting Audit.
Next procedural steps are Logic and Accuracy testing beginning April 16, the public scanning event on May 28, the full hand-tally on May 29, and the board's scheduled certification meeting on May 24 to certify May 21 results.
Board materials and public remarks at the April 9 meeting said the May 28 event will scan sub-batches of ballots at 600 dpi to prepare for a Risk-Limiting Audit and will be open for public observation. The board said it adjusted its procedures in response to recently passed changes to open-records laws concerning ballot images and expressed concern about the Georgia General Assembly’s authority to affect court seals of documents without a judge’s order.
Elections staff reported that printed ballots and project materials arrived April 4 and that Logic and Accuracy testing is scheduled to start at 10:00 a.m. on April 16 and will run until completed. Ballot-proofing earlier in the year produced two sets with errors — including incorrect pronunciations in audio ballots for blind voters and a failure to label many incumbent candidates properly — and a third set of proofs was approved on March 28.
The board said it will perform a full hand tally of all May 21 ballots on May 29 because the Secretary of State’s Office is not required to conduct a statewide audit for this election. The county called for three volunteers from each county party to help with the tally and set an expected window of 9:00 a.m. to noon for the work, allowing an extra hour compared with earlier estimates.
The board also described procedural steps to accommodate the law changes without additional time or financial cost, including using a desktop scanner previously assigned to the county commission administrative staff for the higher-resolution scans. The board said the office will make the scanning event available for public observation as ballots are prepared for the Risk-Limiting Audit.
Next procedural steps are Logic and Accuracy testing beginning April 16, the public scanning event on May 28, the full hand-tally on May 29, and the board's scheduled certification meeting on May 24 to certify May 21 results.
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