ATLANTA, Ga. — Georgia’s Nov. 3 election is not quite finished. County election workers began a statewide round of risk-limiting audits Thursday, and a single state House seat in South Georgia is still headed to a runoff that will set the final size of the new Democratic majority.
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger ordered a record 20 audits, one race in each of 20 counties chosen at random. To start the process, state employees picked at random rolled 20 ten-sided dice to generate the number that sets which ballots get pulled. Workers then compare paper ballots by hand against the machine counts.
Raffensperger said the extra audits are not strictly needed because he stands by the accuracy of the results, but he wants voters to be confident in them. Counties have until Wednesday, Nov. 18, to wrap up.
The outgoing secretary of state did not seek a new term in the office and instead ran for governor, losing in the Republican primary. His office is also handling fallout from a memory card problem in Seminole County. Raffensperger has said he hopes the next secretary of state will regain a seat on the State Election Board, which lawmakers took away from him after the 2020 election.
Unofficial results give Democrats 92 seats in the House to 87 for Republicans, with one race left. The holdout is House District 151 in South Georgia. Republican incumbent Mike Cheokas faces Democrat Ethan Wolfe in the runoff there. Democratic leaders have said they expect to win it.
Early voting in the District 151 runoff opens next week, and Election Day is Dec. 1. Democrats have not controlled the House in more than 20 years, and every added seat gives the new majority a little more cushion on close votes.
