Georgia election systems get ‘health check’ ahead of November

ATLANTA - The 2024 general election officially got underway in Georgia on Tuesday with the first ballots going out to service members overseas. 

Election Day is now less than 50 days away, and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his team have conducted a "Health Check" of DeKalb County’s election system. 

The goal is to make sure everything works as designed before millions cast their vote in the November election. 

"By the end of the day, we're going to have a free, fair and accurate election," he said. 

Raffensperger talked one on one with FOX 5 just minutes after his staff conducted an audit on the DeKalb County election system. 

"The ballot machines are going to work for you, the other scanners, those vote counters, they're accurate," he said. "So, the only thing that you can really complain about is you didn't work hard enough to knock on enough doors, make enough calls or send enough money so your candidate got enough votes." 

While Georgia found no evidence of widespread voter fraud in 2020, skeptics continue to say the election was stolen. 

Last month, Georgia’s State Election Board approved a controversial rule to empower county board members to investigate discrepancies between the number of cast ballots and the number of voters in each precinct, before certification. Officials say that could lead to a delay of final results. 

On Monday, the Cobb County Election Board voted unanimously to urge the state board to stop making rule changes so close to the election. 

"Our focus is running a smooth election as accurately as possible and introducing any new rules this late in the game adds risk to that process," said Cobb County Elections Board member Stacey Efrat. 

Raffensperger says the new rules could create chaos, but the state election board still needs to follow the law, and the law requires certification within set periods of time. 

"The state election board does not have any authority to exceed what is in the state law or the state constitution, and so we're very mindful of that," he said. "So, if they're actually stepping over that line, it's just not going to meet the scrutiny of the court." 

Raffensperger says the number one thing he wants to stress to voters is to have a plan and, if it involves voting by mail, do it early because of U.S. Postal Service mail delays. His other message: Be civil.