Polk’s recount reveals no changes

County election officials reported no issues during the hand recount of ballots for the 2020 presidential election.

The hand recount of all votes in the 2020 presidential election in Polk County showed no changes to the initial vote tally, according to election officials.

The process of going through all of Polk County’s ballots by hand was completed in the evening on Monday, Nov. 16, with no issues discovered.

Polk County election officials reported that poll workers completed the recount, which was made part of the audit of the Nov. 3 election by Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, around 6 p. m.

Elections Coordinator Brande Coggins said they found no discrepancy between their final report to the secretary of state’s office and the recount audit.

Polk County began the process of recounting the county’s 17,399 votes in the presidential election on Friday, Nov. 13. President Donald Trump received 78.14% of the votes, with Joe Biden getting 21.02%. Libertarian candidate Jo Jorgenson got 152 votes, or 0.87%.

With work on the Nov. 3 election now complete, election officials quickly turned their full attention to preparing for the Dec. 1 runoff between Ricky Clark and Linda Liles for District 2 Polk County Commissioner.

Polk’s elections office is fully responsible for administering the local runoff

since the race is contained inside the county. More than 2,000 absentee ballots for the local race, most of which are sent out automatically to those who have requested it, were being prepared to be mailed out.

Early voting for the Dec. 1 runoff was only being held this week, Monday through Wednesday. from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the county elections office, 144 West Ave., Suite D, in Cedartown.

All precincts will be open on Tuesday for the actual election day.

Georgia’s Jan. 5 state and federal runoff will include both of Georgia’s U. S. Senate seats and the District 4 Public Service Commission seat.

Absentee ballots for the Jan. 5 runoff can be requested by contacting the Polk County Elections Office or by visiting ballotrequest.sos. ga. gov.