Yet Another Success for Georgia’s Secure Paper-Ballot System

(Atlanta) – Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced Wednesday that in the runoff of the special election held for Senate District 13, Georgia’s secure paper-ballot system yet again performed flawlessly.

This election is the next in a growing list of live elections that the system handled with ease.

“Tuesday’s runoff was another success for our new, secure paper-ballot system,” he said, “The system performed exactly as it was intended to – without error.”

The election, held on Tuesday, was a runoff in nine Southwest Georgia counties because none of the three candidates in the Feb. 4 special election received more than 50 percent of the vote. The contest was held due to the death of Sen. Greg Kirk, R-Americus.

Between the two final candidates competing Tuesday for the late senator’s seat, Jim Quinn and Carden H. Summers, a total of 12,072 votes were cast via the new paper-ballot system.

"It’s been a smooth day,” Lee County Elections Supervisor Veronica Johnson told WALB-TV. “So, voters typically appreciated the process knowing that they have the chance to verify that their ballot is auditable and look at the paper ballot and confirm they are voting for who they wish to vote for.”

An audit conducted after the Feb. 4 election verified the accuracy of the voting then, with reporters and two of the candidates among those watching. Before that, the system was used successfully during November municipal elections in six counties and the runoff that followed. It was also used in a January special election for House District 171.

Across the state, Georgians are currently using this system to participate in advanced in-person voting for the March 24 Presidential Preference Primary. So far, 46,691 ballots have been cast on the system in the first two days.

The Georgia Secretary of State is the state’s chief election officer. County election officials run the actual elections and handle voter registration.

Georgia is considered a leader in election innovation with automatic voter registration through the Department of Driver Services, three weeks of early voting – including a Saturday, and no-excuse-required absentee voting. It is the top state in the number of new voter registrations and experienced record registration and record turnout in the last election cycle.

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