April 26, 2024
Since the Nov. 3 election, many have expressed questions and concerns about the integrity of the voting process across our nation. As mentioned in an earlier Christian Index article, voting is a sacred right and responsibility for all citizens to ensure our country remains free. Therefore, protecting the integrity of the voting process is paramount for our future.
Regarding the integrity of our national election, there have also been many questions raised about the election process in Georgia. As you may know, Georgia has become the key battleground state in deciding control of the United States Senate. As the Jan. 5 Senate runoff approaches and our nation awaits the outcome of the presidential race, we wanted to offer answers to questions most frequently being asked.
Question #1. Are the Dominion voting machines switching votes in Georgia?
Answer: At the time of publication, there was no evidence that the integrity of the voting machines has been breached.
Question #2: Has Secretary of State Raffensperger signed something earlier this year that changed absentee ballots? What is this?
Answer: Secretary of State Raffensperger settled a lawsuit in March. He signed off on a settlement that changes the way signatures on absentee ballots are verified. There is an outer envelope the voter signs which used to be “triple matched.” This means the signature was matched against multiple other examples of the voter’s signature, including on their voter registration card. The signature match is considered valid if it matches any of the three sources, meaning a signature on an absentee ballot application would be considered sufficient.
Question #3: Is a recount happening now? Is it a hand count? What happens next?
Answer: The Secretary of State has the authority to order a recount and/or a recanvass. A recount is merely rerunning the election by validating the machine count. A recanvass involves a review by hand of all ballots. The Secretary of State ordered a precertification “hand count.” This appears to involve election officials comparing the printed receipts of votes cast with the machine count to confirm the accuracy of the count, including the participation to a greater or lesser degree of outside observers selected by political parties.
Once all counties have completed their process and certified their results, the Secretary of State will have the choice to certify those results if he is confident they are correct.
Question #4: Does anything happen after the certification?
Answer: Candidates have a right to contest the certified results under Georgia law by filing a lawsuit. Others may file lawsuits alleging other problems with the election. For the presidential race, these questions must be resolved by Dec. 8 when the electors from Georgia must meet and cast their official votes for president. If they are delayed beyond that date, Georgia will not cast any votes in the Electoral College.
Question #5. People are saying there should be a special session of the legislature. What could the legislature do?
Answer: It is too late now for any bill to be passed that would impact the 2020 general election since it has already occurred. The election scheduled for Jan. 5, 2021 is already underway. Passage of legislation to change the laws operating now would likely be challenged in court and ultimately struck down. The legislature could meet to appoint electors if the challenges to the election demonstrate widespread fraud, but no court hearings have been held for evidence to be demonstrated, so it is too early to do that.
Please remain vigilant and prayerful for those elected to positions of authority. Pray for them to have godly wisdom and courage as they make decisions for all citizens.
