by Robin Kemp
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office has released the statewide risk limiting audit results–and in Clayton County, Joe Biden is still the winner.
Statewide, “Georgia shows a 0.1053% (0.001053) variation in statewide total vote count, and a 0.0099% (0.000099) variation in the overall margin,” according to the Secretary of State’s Risk Limit Auditing Report.
Here are the statewide results:
Donald J. Trump (Republican): 2,462,857
Joseph R. Biden (Democrat): 2,475,141
Jo Jorgenson (Libertarian): 62,587
The full hand count in Clayton shows Biden with a margin of 79,518 votes:
Donald J. Trump (Republican): 15,714
Joseph R. Biden (Democrat): 95,232
Jo Jorgensen (Libertarian): 1,038
Total: 111,984
Those figures differ from the original report of 112,334 votes cast and the original margin of 79,663 votes in Biden’s favor.
The raw margin difference for Trump was +145 votes, or 0.129 percent (an increase of 12.907 percent over the original result).
The raw total count difference was -360 votes, or -0.32 percent.
Raffensperger said, “Georgia’s historic first statewide audit reaffirmed that the state’s new secure paper ballot voting system accurately counted and reported results. This is a credit to the hard work of our county and local elections officials who moved quickly to undertake and complete such a momentous task in a short period of time.”
Here is a chart of results by precinct and by batch names (ex.: absentee by mail votes), which you can use to look up how the audit came out wherever you cast your ballot. If you voted in person, just type the precinct number (e.g., FP4):
According to Raffensperger’s office, “The audit process also led to counties catching making mistakes they made in their original count by not uploading all memory cards. Those counties uploaded the memory cards and re-certified their results, leading to increased accuracy in the results the state will certify.”
In addition, “The differential of the audit results from the original machine counted results is well within the expected margin of human error that occurs when hand-counting ballots.” Raffensperger’s office cited a 2012 study by Rice University and Clemson University, which found that “hand counting of votes in postelection audit or recount procedures can result in error rates of up to 2 percent.” In Georgia’s recount, the highest error rate in any county recount was .73%. Most counties found no change in their finally tally. The majority of the remaining counties had changes of fewer than ten ballots.”
Ben Adida, executive director of VotingWorks, called the audit “a success,” with the difference between the Nov. 3 results and the manual audit “well within the expected error rate of hand-counting ballots.”
“Georgia’s first statewide audit successfully confirmed the winner of the chosen contest and should give voters increased confidence in the results,” Adida said. “We were proud to work with Georgia on this historic audit.”
Because the margin between Biden and Trump is still under half a percent, Trump “could request a recount after certification of the results. That recount will be conducted by rescanning all paper ballots.”
How a recount might impact preparations for the Senate runoffs is unclear at this point.
