Georgia signature audit finds no fraud in presidential election

A signature audit of the presidential election results in a key Georgia county confirmed there was no fraud, the third review to confirm that President-elect Joe Biden won the Peach State in November.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) said in a press release that the review in Cobb County, which Biden won by more than 14 percentage points, found that the election board there achieved “a 99.99% accuracy rate in performing correct signature verification procedures.” 

The signature audit of ballots submitted followed a hand recount of statewide votes and a subsequent machine recount that also affirmed Biden’s victory in the Peach State. President Trump has made Georgia a top target of his claims that widespread voter fraud and irregularities cost him a second term, though lawsuits over such claims have been tossed for lack of evidence and standing.

“The Secretary of State’s office has always been focused on calling balls and strikes in elections and, in this case, three strikes against the voter fraud claims and they’re out,” said Raffensperger. “We conducted a statewide hand recount that reaffirmed the initial tally, and a machine recount at the request of the Trump campaign that also reaffirmed the original tally. This audit disproves the only credible allegations the Trump campaign had against the strength of Georgia’s signature match processes.” 

Raffensperger first announced the signature match audit for Cobb County on Dec. 14 over allegations of process foul-ups, but the review found “no fraudulent absentee ballots” with a 99 percent confidence threshold. The audit found that only two ballots should have been flagged, but fraud was not suspected in either instance.

Raffensperger’s office teamed up with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to conduct the audit.

Cobb County is one of a number of suburban Atlanta areas that helped fuel Biden’s statewide victory.

The results of the audit mark the latest defeat for Trump in his effort to subvert the election results but will likely make Raffensperger a target once again of the president’s ire.

Trump has lambasted the Georgia secretary of state and Gov. Brian Kemp (R) over what he says are insufficient efforts to investigate his fraud claims, going so far as to promote a possible primary challenger to Kemp when he’s up for reelection in 2022.