State certifies elections, runoffs

It's official. There will be a runoff election for Georgia's U.S. Senate race. Candidates Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss and Democrat Jim Martin have been preparing for a re-match, and today the Secretary of State certified all election results from November 4th. The Secretary of State also certified two other runoff elections for the Public Service Commission in District 4 and for the Georgia State Appeals Court. Early voting is next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Advance voting starts November 24th through Wednesday the 26th. The runoff election will be held statewide on December 2nd. For a full list of certified races, click here.

Where is the Fraud Happening?

A survey conducted by GPB of 134 election offices across the state finds no cases of registration or early voting fraud.

The findings come after several high profile allegations were made suggesting some counties were seeing widespread attempts by partisans and community groups, such as ACORN, to conduct elections fraud. There were also reports on rural AM and FM talk radio stations that organized efforts to register dead voters were taking place.

GPB found no evidence this is occurring.

Several election officials in a handful of counties have reported irregularities to the Secretary of State’s office. However, only thirty two ballots are in question, according to the information provided to GPB, and all of the cases have been resolved without charges.

Fulton County and Richmond County officials did provide exact numbers to GPB, but both election offices report no instances of voter registration or elections fraud.

A spokesperson at the Secretary of State’s office also indicated investigators are looking into allegations of registering people in jails. However, GPB could not independently verify the investigation, and the spokesperson would not disclose where the investigation is taking place.

All participants reported the elections process is moving smoothly, and that early voting turnout is high.

24 counties did not participate in the survey. All were rural counties. Seventeen offices could not be reached. One county office declined to participate. Six more listed non-working telephone numbers.

While almost all of the election officials say they have heard of the voting and registration fraud allegations, not one confirmed it had taken place in their counties. This was a self reporting survey however, and is dependant on the honesty of each county official.

For a copy of the survey, email jsepulvado@gpb.org .

Last day for voter registration

Today is the final day to register to vote in Georgia, ahead of November’s general election. All signs point to this being a robust season for new voters on the rolls. The Secretary of State’s office reports that through the middle of last week, over 405,000 Georgians had registered from the beginning of this year. That’s a spike of over 35,000 more than the same period in 2004--the year of the last presidential election.

State officials remind those wishing to register that forms can be downloaded from the Secretary of State’s office website. Forms can also be picked up from your county’s registrars office, and other locations such as libraries and post offices.

Primary voter turnout expected near 30-percent

State elections officials expect voter turnout to be around 30-percent for tomorrow’s primary. But that projection could vary depending where the hotly-contested races are in Georgia.

The 30-percent turnout projection would come-in lower than the over 40-percent of registered voters that cast ballots in February’s presidential primary.

But Deputy Secretary of State Rob Simms says high profile races should get a higher bump in turnout--such as perhaps primary voting in the 12th and 10th districts, and statewide interest in the U.S. Senate Democratic primary race:

"I think what you'll see is you'll see in some areas where you've got some real contentious and competitive races you may see some spikes in turnout in those areas. And other areas of the state where you may not have anything going on, you may see a little bit lower".

Simms says the advance and absentee voting has come-in at a "pretty good number"--so far 150,000 through Friday.

Techno-savvy poll worker shortage critical

Exit polls from the Secretary of State indicate more than 2-million Georgians voted on Super Tuesday 2008. The higher than expected turnout could be an indicator of what's to come this November. And that has some election officials concerned because, in some precincts the waiting time exceeded two hours. That's due in part to a shortage of "techno" savvy polls workers faced for the first time with a completely automated balloting procedure.

Claire Schexnyder is with Georgia Election Protection. Her group is working with several metro-Atlanta counties to recruit computer literate poll workers ahead of November's race.

"The ballot is going to be much longer in November. And, if we have a slow computerized check in process, the lines will be that much longer. So, anything we can do to have more computer savvy poll workers, the better."

Georgia was the first state in the country to fully switch to computer balloting. However, concerns over touch screen computers continue. In March of this year, a group known as VoterGA filed a lawsuit to ban electronic voting machines in Georgia.