Cobb County elections staff report provisional processing, explain small counting discrepancies; recount rules and Ward 5 runoff possible

Board Member 1 opened the Nov. 7 pre-certification meeting of the Cobb County Board of Elections and Registration and apologized to voters at Thompson Community Center, saying, "We will do better," before asking elections staff to give a presentation on outstanding ballots.

Michael, elections staff, told the board provisional ballot processing began at about 2:00 a.m. and provided counts: 220 election-day provisional ballots, 1 provisional from advance voting and 15 by mail; he said 182 of the election-day provisionals will be processed. He said voters have until 5:00 p.m. to cure provisional ballots, after which staff will upload final results.

Staff described a set of small discrepancies between the numbers shown as "ballots cast" and the Jarvis credit totals. "We have all the documentation and all the evidence to prove that everything happened correctly," Michael said, explaining one example: a voter at the Vining's O2 polling place experienced a pollbook…