Deputy director reports minor ballot-count discrepancies during DeKalb County pre-certification review

The DeKalb County Board of Registration and Elections met in a special called pre-certification session to review an unofficial comparison of ballots cast and voter-registration credits; no formal actions were taken at the meeting and the board is scheduled to certify results next Tuesday.

The deputy director presented the pre-certification report, saying the office had recorded 174,341 ballots cast and 174,343 voter credits to date and was investigating several small discrepancies. The report attributed a net difference to several sources: a difference of six in absentee credits, eight in early voting, and 52 on election day, and staff highlighted one precinct error in which 17 ballots were inadvertently placed in the wrong precinct during a manual backup process. The deputy director said remaining differences will be corrected and finalized at the certification meeting.

"They are currently a difference of six... 174,341 ballots have been cast and so far we have recorded 174,343 credits," the deputy director reported, noting staff were continuing to identify voters whose credits may not have been clearly documented. The deputy director also said, "I have not been made aware of any equipment issues that would affect the counts tabulation" and "I have not been made aware of any chain of custody issues." When asked about unresolved complaints or disruptions, the deputy director replied, "I was not made aware of any."

During public comment, resident Bethanne Fman praised the work of election staff and urged the board to reconsider the timing of the certification meeting, saying the pre-certification session that reviews incomplete results "is not valuable and reviewing incomplete results do not add to the process" and that scheduling conflicts with other local meetings hinder public participation. Fman also said she believed the election "went very well in DeKalb County" and thanked staff for months of planning, a strong early-vote period and a successful election day.

Board members asked standard procedural questions about equipment, chain of custody, poll watchers and provisionals. One board member asked whether the Secretary of State had directed any changes to the numbers submitted; the deputy director responded no. On provisionals, staff said counts were still being resolved and that a final number would be available at certification.

The chair asked for a motion to approve the agenda at the start of the meeting; members moved and seconded and the agenda was approved by voice vote (mover/second not specified in the transcript). The board declined to go into executive session and later approved a motion to adjourn.

The board will convene a certification meeting next Tuesday to finalize provisional ballots and resolve the differences noted in the pre-certification report.