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“Trust in our elections is at an all-time national low, and many Georgians are also concerned about their vote’s sanctity in the high-stakes contest on Tuesday,” he went on.

Elections are vulnerable to innocent error as well as hacking. The most vulnerable stage is in the reporting of precinct results. If posting errors are made and no one is double-checking, those errors can flip an election, as occurred in 1948 when future President Lyndon Baines Johnson won his race for US Senate by 88 votes that appeared out of thin air.

Luckily, every polling place in Georgia is required to post precinct results after the counting finishes, so they can be compared with official results to catch any errors. And America Counts’ app, “Actual Vote,” makes it possible to do this relatively easily. Using a smart phone, Georgians video record the tapes at their voting location, the recordings upload to a public read-only database, and the data is then compared with official results.

This gives all Georgians — Republicans, Democrats, and Independents alike – the ability to independently and quickly verify that precinct totals are reported accurately. If some are misreported, the evidence they’ve collected will allow challenges and corrections. On the other hand, if no errors are discovered, Georgians can take more confidence that the announced winner was the true winner.

Wolf, a resident of San Diego, California, isn’t responsible for the poster trail across Georgia, but he is happy that regular Georgians are acting proactively in promoting election protection. “Grassroots groups on both sides are doing amazing work getting out the vote, but they tend to overlook the need to verify that the votes they are generating are being counted and reported accurately.”

“Conducting legitimate election audits in today’s hyper-polarized political environment is a real challenge” says Wolf. “Sloppy and partisan attempts don’t add to the trustworthiness of elections. Instead they damage the reputability of honest audits and auditors and generate more strife. So audits must be independent, nonpartisan, and adhere to the highest standards of impartiality and rigor. Our apps give Americans the ability to achieve this ideal.”

“Trust must be earned”, he adds, “and Georgians are now taking action to verify that their electoral processes have earned their trust.”

Learn more about the America Counts election audit system and what Georgians can do to help to improve their elections next Tuesday at www.americacounts.us. Their training videos can be watched at https://www.youtube.com/@americacounts9004

Daniel Wolf
Democracy Counts, Inc.
+1 619-270-6434
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