What the law and state election rules say

But instead of pulling a small sample of the ballot, Fansperger plans to audit each ballot. The sample should have more than 1 million ballots, according to the secretary of state office, so Rafansperger decided that the full count would be justified on the basis of the proximity of the race.

“You really have to do a hand-to-hand full count of all the ballots because the margin is so close right now,” Refencesperg said.

Georgia’s recount rules would not have allowed a hand count.

This year the State Election Board passed the rule, which was supported by Refence Perp, as required Scanned accounts only.

Advocates electoral integrity Protested, But state election officials said the scan was faster and more accurate. The audit process was conceived as a way to check the accuracy of tabulations by looking at the ballet itself, rather than relying on computers.

Electoral Law Attorney Brian Sales said Georgia’s rules and laws do not allow the Secretary of State to jump from an audit to a full hand-based recount.

“If the goal here is clarity, the Secretary of State should not take action in the intrusive legal field,” Sales said. “The Secretary of State cannot make any questionable calls here, so that both sides have an opportunity to question the impartiality of what he is doing.”

The secretary of the state office said the audit date of the counting of the entire ballot paper was correct and approved. State law allows the Secretary of State to set a risk limit of “no more than 10%,” meaning read-outs that can set a limit on the Rafansperger lower level that will mandate a full calculation.

Voting Works, a non-profit organization hired by the secretary of state to run the debt, said it would be easier to conduct a full calculation than to stretch the size of a large sample.

“In the case of Georgia this year, the sample size is so large – more than 1.5 million ballots – that it is less of a task to sample each cast ballot, simply because trying to audit a larger subset to retrieve and replace specific ballots while all ballots are reviewed. No, ”said Ben Adida, executive director of Voting Works. Wrote On its website.

State and county election officials acknowledged Wednesday that handwriting could present more inaccuracies than a computer scan. But they said a recount would be appropriate to check the work of Georgia’s voting machinery.

The recount was scheduled to begin on Thursday and Friday in Georgia’s 159 counties and will face a Nov. 20 deadline to complete. It is the deadline for a state election certificate, which, according to state law, can be extended “solely for reasons” by order of a superior court judge.

However, The second calculation Is possible.

Candidates have the right to recount on request if they have lost less than half a percent after the result is certified. Trump currently traces Biden by about 0.3%.