FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said election workers rescanned nearly 350 ballots in Fulton County after discovering an issue that caused them not be scanned or uploaded to election tallies.
The issue involved a batch of 342 provisional, military and overseas ballots scanned on Friday night. Out of an abundance of caution, election workers and investigators began rescanning all of those ballots Saturday night. The numbers from Friday night were removed from state tallies and replaced with the corrected numbers.
Channel 2′s Lauren Pozen talked to Fulton County Director of Elections Richard Barron about what happened.
“The thumbdrive had the files on it, but for some reason, they didn’t transfer over,” Barron said. “Most all of them were scanned. Some of the ICC files didn’t transfer to the server, and then on the other ones, we had to scan some ballots.”
Biden’s lead grew to over 10,000 votes overnight Saturday. A number of absentee, provisional and overseas military ballots remain uncounted. Over 1,000 of those are in Gwinnett County, where election workers weren’t able to resume scanning ballots Saturday because of a software issue. County officials said workers hoped to resume scanning ballots Sunday.
Observers from both parties were inside State Farm Arena to watch the process, including an attorney from the Biden campaign.
“The number of ballots that we accept has provisionals, and we have to make sure that number of ballots scan and those balance now," Barron said.
When they are finished, Barron said Fulton County will be a wrap for counting votes in the county.
“This is one of those things you want to make sure you do,” Barron said. “That is why you have time between Election Day and certification. It’s a part of the process.”
Raffensperger issued a statement about the issue, reading:
"In reviewing last night’s reporting of provisional ballots, Fulton County Director of Registration & Elections Richard Barron directed his staff to review to ensure that all provisional ballots were reflected in the results.
In doing so he learned that some ballots were not captured in last night’s results. He also learned of a smaller number that were not scanned. Those are now being prepared for scanning.
Out of an abundance of caution, all provisional, military and UOCAVA allots scanned on Friday, November 6 will be rescanned tonight. The upload made last night will be pulled and replaced with tonight’s rescanned file.
Prior to beginning today’s work, Barron notified the State Election Board monitor assigned to Fulton County and both political parties. He requested that each party send at least one observer to observe the process as staff completed the processing of these final ballots."
Fulton has discovered an issue involving reporting from their work on Fri. Officials are at State Farm Arena to rescan that work. I have a monitor & investigators onsite. Also sent Dep. SOS as well to oversee the process to make sure to secure the vote and protect all legal votes
— GA Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (@GaSecofState) November 7, 2020
[SPECIAL SECTION: Election 2020]
For some context (we were in the “ballot finalization” warehouse space Friday),this day’s count involved provisional ballots-roughly 3600 and an additional 900 or so military/overseas ballots.Still unclear what issue the state & Fulton are addressing #gapol #Election2020 @wsbtv
— Nicole Carr (@NicoleCarrWSB) November 7, 2020
GEORGIA VOTER GUIDE:
INTERACTIVE MAP: Where can I drop off my absentee ballot in metro Atlanta?
What To Know About Voting in Person in Georgia
Amendments and resolutions on Georgia ballot: What do they mean?
Georgia Voters: What’s on my ballot for the November 2020 election?
Electoral College: How does it work; what happens if there is a tie?
