Don’t trust the results of the election? For the first time, Georgia voters can check ballots for themselves.
Digital images of ballots are now public records in Georgia, available for anyone to see upon request and payment of a fee to county election offices.
A batch of 145,000 Fulton County absentee ballots cast in November’s election shows a picture of every ballot and bubbled-in oval, followed by a printed page verifying how voting machines counted each race. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution obtained the ballot images by paying a $240 records retrieval fee to Fulton County.
There are many possibilities for how these ballot images could be used — or abused.
Concerned citizens could recount ballots themselves. Candidates could identify voting patterns, such as split tickets among Democrats and Republicans. Those who believe an election was stolen could look for counting irregularities, highlighting potential errors.