Election integrity is essential for democracy. We have an opportunity to exercise our election integrity muscles with the Georgia recount. We want to see an accurate count, including for Green write-ins. We also want to know how the process works because next time it may be a Green in a close race with a recount.
The Georgia Secretary of State announced yesterday they would be combining their usual recanvass of the vote with the risk-limiting audit and a recount all in one.
Their goal is to hand count over five million ballots starting tomorrow, Friday, and concluding by Wednesday, November 18th at midnight. The State deadline to certify is Friday, November 20th.
If you are interested in observing the recount, please sign up here. We thank you for your commitment to election integrity, but need to be clear that we want you to leave immediately if it is unsafe in any way. County election officials cannot require observers to wear masks, and cannot guarantee six feet distancing rules will be in effect.
You may wish to deliberately choose a smaller county to observe, rather than hot spots like Fulton, Dekalb, Gwinnett, Richmond, Clarke, Bibb, Macon and Stewart where we can anticipate close scrutiny.
Howie and Angela were certified write-in candidates in Georgia, but this does not seem to provide any special standing as Georgia Recount Law allows for any member of the public to observe.
Our campaign has an interest in making sure our write-in votes are counted. Moreover, we believe that recounts are an important tool in the democratic process. We are not there to help Trump or Biden win; our focus is on election integrity, and the belief that all votes should be counted, including our Green write-in votes.
Recounts provide an opportunity for fair examinations of vote counting procedures, to make sure results are fair and accurate.
Right now, we have limited information. The briefing from the Secretary of State to the County Boards of Elections was scheduled for 11am this morning, so most counties we reached were still scrambling to make decisions when we reached out this afternoon (some were not even sure where the count would be happening, other than that it would start at 9am tomorrow). Most of the counties we reached had also not yet decided whether they would be counting throughout the weekend, although we expect larger counties to do so.
Call the county you wish to observe to confirm logistical details, if the information is not on their website.
Prior to arriving, please read the information put together by the Citizens for Election Integrity — Georgia Recount Laws and their excellent Recount Principles and Best Practices.
Recount teams assemble for manual review of Georgia Election Results
After each observation shift, please complete our GA Recount Report Form.
What we know: recounts will start at 9am on Friday, November 13th. They will be doing a full hand count of all ballots.
Several counties are livestreaming their recounts: Paulding, Dade, Decatur, Athens-Clarke and Camden. Fulton and DeKalb counties metro Atlanta needed more time, but plan to stream their recounts when they begin Saturday.
For the first time, Georgia used Ballot Marking Devices (BMD) this election statewide. This means a printout of each voter’s selections was generated, with a bar code. This document was then sent through a scanner, for the initial count.
For the recount, these printouts will be sorted into piles, for each candidate — including certified write in candidates. Election officials will then hand count.
We expect the Trump campaign will be particularly focused on Absentee Ballots.
This way, we can hear about your experience and allow us to provide more complete information to those observing on other days.
