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AlterNetSep 14
Georgia Election Board Requires Hand Counting of Ballots
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Above: Election officials count the votes for Fulton County on January 6, 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia. Image copyright: Megan Varner/Stringer/Getty Images News via Getty Images
The Facts
The Georgia state election board voted 3-2 Friday to require that all ballots in the upcoming November election be hand-counted at every polling location across the state.
The new rule, which comes less than 50 days before the Nov. 5 election, means that ballots will be counted by both machines and poll workers.
The Spin
Democratic narrative
There is absolutely zero reason to require hand-counted ballots. Studies show that due to human nature and our inability to do tedious tasks for too long, hand counts result in a 25% mistake rate. They also show that it would require immense personnel resources and weeks of counting just to do 100K ballots, let alone the millions that will be cast in Georgia. This is a dangerous move by Trump allies to potentially throw the Georgia election process into chaos and provide a bad faith pretext for not certifying the results.
Pro-Trump narrative
The American people have become very skeptical of their elections, which is why they want further assurances that their ballots are counted properly. People already assume that other precious documents, such as money at the bank, are checked and re-checked by human beings, so it shouldn't be too much to ask regarding the sacred right to vote. And when it comes to potential chaos after Election Day, the true threat is a large-scale, left-wing infrastructure ready to conduct lawfare at a moment's notice.
