‘Free, fair and now fast’: Elections chief weighs in on voter experience
AUGUSTA, Ga. - Tuesday was the deadline for Georgia’s 159 counties to certify their votes, and all the counties met that goal.
Local officials certified their results in a 2 p.m. meeting of the Richmond County Board of Elections.
“Today, counties across Georgia will reconfirm the will of Georgia voters with county certifications,” said Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
The state must certify elections in order for the electoral votes to go to President-elect Donald Trump.
Certifying votes at the county level is the first step toward statewide certification, which leads up to the critical Electoral College vote.
Raffensperger’s office said Tuesday evening that all counties had certified their results.
When it comes to casting your vote, Raffensperger has one goal.
“Free, fair and now fast elections,” said Raffensperger.
The Peach State is a major battleground state, and it not only flipped red but saw a record of early voting and election day turnout and results before midnight.
A shock to some, but not Raffensperger.
“They were amazed,” said Raffensperger. " I wasn’t, because that’s what we’ve been working on to improve the voter experience. So we lead the nation on the fastest results.”
He credits a lot of the speedy process at the polls to this year’s new electronic poll pads
“We added that coming in 2024 it was up all every precinct in the state. 2022, we had a few, and we’re really just testing it out, and we weren’t ready for all the technology,” he said. “It took a while to get it upgraded, so that really helped us speed it up even faster. So 59 or 49-second check-in, and then the lines were just so short.”
Raffensperger credits photo ID, something they didn’t have for absentee ballots back in the 2020 election for more confidence and security at the polls.
“That was a huge security measure, but also a huge confidence builder for everyone,” said Raffensperger. “We use your driver’s license number, which links it back to your photo, but it’s a unique identifier, and so we’re not just basing it on the signature match. People said it was subjective. No argument from me on that. So let’s go ahead and use the driver’s license number so we can make sure that we have actually verified who this voter is. We think that has just really increased the security of the process, but also gave voters confidence.”
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Rafensperger says he’s leaving room for just a few tweaks in future elections.
" We’ll probably have just a few tweaks we like to, you know, just fine-tune where we are right now,” he said. “Then it’s really just repetition, repetition, reputation, reputation.”
Nearly 5.3 million people voted in the Peach State, and Trump won the battleground swing state.
“Looks like we had a great election cycle – free fair and fast. Can’t beat that,” Raffensperger said Tuesday morning.
Election leaders say polling sites across the state performed at a level they had hoped for, despite some mail ballot issues in Cobb County and more than 60 hoax bomb threats from Russia.
“People still voted. We will not be cowards. You will not sow discord and strife. It didn’t work,” he said.
“We feel like we’re in great shape, they feel like they are in good shape, so 5 p.m., that’s the requirement and they intend to meet it,” said Raffensperger.
Another key date is Dec. 17, when all state electors hand in their votes for the presidential election.
Congress must count and certify the election on Jan. 6. As president of the Senate, Vice President Kamala Harris will oversee the counting. The last time the losing candidate had to fulfill this role was Al Gore in 2001.
President-elect Donald Trump will be sworn in as the 47th president of the United States on Jan. 20.
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