Georgia’s election systems are getting a ‘health check’ before November

ATLANTA – The 2024 general election officially began in Georgia on Tuesday with the first votes from overseas service members.

Election Day is now less than 50 days away, and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his team have conducted a “Health Check” of DeKalb County’s election system.

The goal is to make sure everything works as planned before millions of people vote in the November elections.

“At the end of the day, we will have free, fair and fair elections,” he said.

Raffensperger spoke alone with FOX 5 minutes after his staff audited the DeKalb County election system.

“Voting machines will work for you, other scanners, vote counters, are correct,” he said. “So, the only thing you can complain about is that you didn’t work hard enough to knock on enough doors, make enough phone calls or send enough money for your candidate to get enough votes.”

Although Georgia has found no evidence of electoral fraud in 2020, skeptics still claim the election was rigged.

Last month, the Georgia State Board of Elections approved a controversial law to empower county board members to investigate discrepancies between the number of ballots and the number of voters in each precinct, before verification. Officials say that could cause a delay in the final results.

On Monday, the Cobb County Board of Elections voted unanimously to urge the state board to stop making rule changes close to the election.

“Our goal is to run elections as efficiently as possible and introducing any new rules this late in the game adds risk to that process,” said Board of Elections member Cobb. County Stacey Efrat.

Raffensperger said the new rules could cause chaos, but the state board of elections still needs to comply with the law, and the law requires certification within a certain time frame.

“The state election board does not have the power to go beyond what is in the state law or the state constitution, so we are very aware of that,” he said. “So, if they really step on that line, it won’t meet the court’s scrutiny.”

Raffensperger said the first thing he wants to stress to voters is to have a plan and, if it involves voting by mail, do it quickly because of the delays in the US Postal Service. His other message: Be dignified.