Politics

Fulton, DeKalb counties finish ballot recount, officials say

FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — Fulton and DeKalb counties reported Sunday evening that workers have finished the recounting process.

In Fulton County, a total of 170 audit teams worked all weekend to re-tally over 528,000 votes, using a massive space at the Georgia World Congress Center.

Fulton County Election Director Richard Barron said the largest recount he’s ever been a part of involved just a hundred or so votes. Election officials said extra volunteers helped them plow through the thousands of ballots faster.

“Fulton County employees and poll workers conducted the audit work, with active participation from political party monitors, and members of the press and the general public observing the process,” the county said.

It took two days for DeKalb County workers to finish its recount. Election officials said 300 people recounted more than 370,000 ballots over two 8-hour shifts Saturday and Sunday.

“This audit was essentially seamless and I’m grateful for the hard work and collaboration of all involved,” said DeKalb VRE Director Erica Hamilton. “Our team worked tirelessly, while under a spotlight, and we’re proud of our collaborative efforts across the county and with the City of Stonecrest to make this happen. You can count on DeKalb.”

[SPECIAL SECTION: Election 2020]

GEORGIA VOTER GUIDE:

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has said that he won’t release the results until all of Georgia’s 159 counties are finished recounting. Election officials have until this Wednesday at midnight to finish the audit.

In Cobb County, election officials said they are well beyond the halfway mark in the recount and should be finished in the next day or two.

Channel 2′s Audrey Washington spoke with Gwinnett County Elections Supervisor Kristi Royston. She said their workers stopped recounting Sunday evening around 5 p.m. but will return at 8 a.m. Monday morning.

“We have just a few more containers of the by mail process and a few more bags of election day," Royston said. "The one thing that we have not started that we will tomorrow are the ballots from advance voting.”

Only one county in Georgia has announced the results of their recount. Bacon County in southeast Georgia said the results of their recount was identical to the results on Election Day. The heavily Republican county cast 4,018 ballots for President Donald Trump and 625 votes for President-elect Joe Biden.