Gwinnett making progress reviewing final round of ballots

G win nett County was making brisk progress Thursday evening in its review of ballots that have been flagged for potential errors.

Eight hours into the ballot adjudication process, 1,800 of the 3,200 “batches” of absentee ballots had been combed through by a team of elections workers and volunteers.

Once complete, the final cache of Gwinnett ballots could help decide close races up and down the ballot, from Georgia’ s presidential vote to G win net t’ s transit referendum.

An undetermined number of votes fromthe 3,200 batches of ballots, 4,400 absentee ballots received on Election Day and 463 votes froma corrupted voter card used during early voting have not yet been reported to the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office. The ballots that must be adjudicated and the remaining absentee and early votes will not be reported until the process is complete in order to avoid “voter confusion” that could come with fluctuating numbers, Elections Supervisor Kristi Royston said.

Elections workers and volunteers huddled around screen sin the county elections officestarting at9a. m. Thursday, going ballot by ballot to resolve issues. The county’s ballot adjudication process will have these workers and volunteers poring through 3,200 batches of absentee ballots in which at least one had been flagged for an error. That represents somewhere between 80,000 and 160,000 votes, spokesmanJoe Sorenson said. The total number of votes among them that have not been counted due toerrors is likelymuchfewer. The minimum number of ballots that must be reviewed is 3,200, Royston said.

Errors could include a voter using a check mark instead of filling in an oval, or selecting two candidates in an election that requires a single choice. Triosmade up of one elections worker, one Republican volunteer and one Democratic volunteer areworking together to determine “voter intent” on these ballots; if the selection on the ballot can be discerned, it will be added to the count, Elections Supervisor Kristi Royston said.

Before the county’s ballot adjudication process started, Sorenson expected it to last intotheweekend. Reviewpanels that are going through the ballots are scheduled towork through Sunday. But the process could wrap up sooner.

“The timeline forme is the sooner the better,” Royston said in an afternoon update. “But we also want to make sure we’re doing it right.”

Royston expects county staff and volunteers towork into the night adjudicating ballots. She would not estimate when the process would be complete.

“We will work tonight as long as we continue to be productive,” she said. If all ballotswere not adjudicated by quitting time, the process was to resume this morning.

The outstanding votes in G win nett could play an important par tina few key races. While most county races have clear results, the answer to G win net t’ s transit referendum is separated by 1,749 votes, with“no” leading. Thestatewide presidential race was separated by fewer than 13,000 votes with about 50,000 left to count statewide as of Thursday afternoon, with President Donald Trump ahead.

The count also will help finalize the 7th Congressional District race. Democrat Carolyn Bourdeaux declared victory in the election Wednesday morning, but Republican opponent Rich McCormick has not conceded. McCormick’s campaign said it is watching G win net t’ s remaining ballots closely; he trails by fewer than 8,600 votes.

The Associated Press has not declared a victor in the race.