Rule 183-1-15-.04 - Audit(1)Preparing for the Audit1. Following November general elections in even-numbered years, each county shall participate in a statewide risk-limiting audit with a risk limit of not greater than 10 percent as set forth in this rule prior to the certification by the Secretary of State.2. Prior to county certification, the election superintendent of each county shall prepare a ballot manifest as instructed by the Secretary of State.3. The contest to audit shall be selected by the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State shall set a date, time, and location after the November general election in even-numbered years to select which contest to audit. Such meeting shall be open to the public. After selecting the contest to audit, the Secretary of State shall publicly announce which contest will be audited and publish the selected contest on the Secretary of State webpage. In selecting the contest to audit, the Secretary of State shall consider the below criteria:a. The closeness of the reported tabulation outcomes;b. The geographical scope of the contests;c. The number of ballots counted in the contests;d. Any cause for concern regarding the accuracy of the reported tabulation outcome of the contests;e. Any other benefits that may result from auditing certain contests; orf. The ability of the county to complete the audit before the state certification deadline.4. The audit shall be open to the public, and public notice of the date, time, and location of the audit must be posted on the county election office's website, or, if the county election's office does not have a website, in another prominent location.(2)Conducting the Audit1. The audit shall be open to the view of the public and press, but no person except the person(s) designated by the election superintendent or the superintendent's authorized deputy shall touch any ballot or ballot container. The election superintendent may designate a viewing area from which members of the public may observe the audit for the purpose of good order and maintaining the integrity of the audit.2. The election superintendent shall create audit teams comprised of at least two sworn designees to assist with the audit. The superintendent may designate non-employees to assist with the audit process. All persons who the superintendent designates to assist with the audit shall take and sign an oath that they will conduct the audit accurately and securely prior to assisting with the audit.3. Chain of custody for each ballot shall be maintained at all times during the audit, including but not limited to, a log of the seal numbers on the ballot containers before and after completing the manual audit.4. For ballots marked by electronic ballot markers, the auditors shall rely on the printed text on the ballot to determine the voter's selection. For ballots marked by hand, the auditors shall rely on the choices indicated by the voter by filling in the oval adjacent to the candidate or question.5. The audit shall end once all selected ballots have been counted and the risk limit for the audit has been met.6. The election superintendent shall report the results of the audit to the Secretary of State.7. The election superintendent shall follow instructions issued by the Secretary of State on how to specifically conduct the audit, including but not limited to setting deadlines and formats for creating ballot manifests.O.C.G.A. §§ 21-2-31, 21-2-498.
Original Rule entitled "Audit" adopted. F. Sep. 24, 2020; eff. Oct. 14, 2020.