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2020 General Election Risk-Limiting Audit


Following the November 2020 General Election, the Secretary of State selected the presidential contest for a statewide risk limiting audit ("RLA"). Due to the tight margin of the race and the principles of risk-limiting audits, this audit was a full manual tally of all votes cast. The audit confirmed that the original machine count accurately portrayed the winner of the election.

The differential of the audit results from the original machine-counted results was well within the expected margin of human error that occurs when hand-counting ballots. A 2012 study by Rice University and Clemson University 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 0.73%. Most counties found no change in their final tally. The majority of the remaining counties had changes of fewer than ten ballots.

Risk Limiting Audit Summary Report (PDF)
November 19th Audit News Release

Audit Results

RLA County Summary Report (PDF) | (Excel)
Detailed Audit Report with Results from all Batch Sheets (Excel)

Note: As you are reviewing batch-level results, you may notice that Gwinnett County has a disproportionately high number of blank ballots. This is because some voters received two-page ballots, and the second page was considered a blank ballot since it did not have the presidential contest.

Audit Documents by County

Following the conclusion of the statewide audit, our office collected batch sheets from the individual counties. In total, the audit included 41,881 batches. Click on the name of a county below to download its batch sheets.

Please note that we have redacted signatures from these documents. Click here to see an example of an original batch sheet.

County RLA Batch Sheets

Appling Evans Newton
Atkinson Fannin Oconee
Bacon Fayette Oglethorpe
Baker Floyd Paulding
Baldwin Forsyth Peach
Banks Franklin Pickens
Barrow Fulton Pierce
Bartow Gilmer Pike
Ben Hill Glascock Polk
Berrien Glynn Pulaski
Bibb Gordon Putnam
Bleckley Grady Quitman
Brantley Greene Rabun
Brooks Gwinnett Randolph
Bryan Habersham Richmond
Bulloch Hall Rockdale
Burke Hancock Schley
Butts Haralson Screven
Calhoun Harris Seminole
Camden Hart Spalding
Candler Heard Stephens
Carroll Henry Stewart
Catoosa Houston Sumter
Charlton Irwin Talbot
Chatham Jackson Taliaferro
Chattahoochee Jasper Tattnall
Chattooga Jeff Davis Taylor
Cherokee Jefferson Telfair
Clarke Jenkins Terrell
Clay Johnson Thomas
Clayton Jones Tift
Clinch Lamar Toombs
Cobb Lanier Towns
Coffee Laurens Treutlen
Colquitt Lee Troup
Columbia Liberty Turner
Cook Lincoln Twiggs
Coweta Long Union
Crawford Lowndes Upson
Crisp Lumpkin Walker
Dade Macon Walton
Dawson Madison Ware
Decatur Marion Warren
Dekalb McDuffie Washington
Dodge McIntosh Wayne
Dooly Meriwether Webster
Dougherty Miller Wheeler
Douglas Mitchell White
Early Monroe Whitfield
Echols Montgomery Wilcox
Effingham Morgan Wilkes
Elbert Murray Wilkinson
Emanuel Muscogee Worth

Contact

214 State Capitol
Atlanta, Georgia 30334
404.656.2881
E-Mail
© 2018 Georgia Secretary of State