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DeKalb elections director reports 10 pre-certification discrepancies; one precinct required ballot rescans
Summary
DeKalb County elections staff told the Board of Registration and Elections that a pre-certification review found 10 precinct-level discrepancies (four absentee-by-mail, five advance voting, one election day) and that a memory-card failure required rescanning of ballots from an affected precinct; no fraud or chain-of-custody breaches were reported.
DeKalb County’s elections director presented a pre-certification report Monday that identified 10 precinct-level discrepancies and described one incident in which ballots had to be rescanned after a memory-card issue.
"What you have before you today is the report that meets the qualifications and specifications," the director said, explaining the review required by State Election Board Rule 183-1-12-12. The review compares total ballots cast in each precinct with the total number of unique voter identification numbers and breaks the totals down by method of voting.
Ms. Smith, the county’s elections director, told the board the report showed four discrepancies in absentee-by-mail returns, five discrepancies in advance voting, and one election-day discrepancy, "so a total of 10." She said staff have researched several of the items and placed notes beside them in the report, while others remain under investigation and will be explained at the department’s next meeting.
Board members asked whether any chain-of-custody issues, fraud, or disruptions had been identified. "Not that I was made aware of," Ms. Smith said. She added that watermark questions on some ballots remain under research.
The director also described an equipment incident on election night: a problem with a memory card required staff to open a Pelican case and rescanning ballots in order to validate and tabulate results for the affected polling location. Ms. Smith identified affected locations as Brier Vista and Johnson Estates and said 352 ballots were involved in the rescans.
Acting Chair Delay Loman and board members thanked staff for a prompt report; no formal vote or additional action was required on the pre-certification report at the meeting. Ms. Smith said items that are still under review will be explained at the department’s next meeting on Tuesday.
The report cited the department’s use of poll-pad check-in credits and the Jarvis system as the sources for the precinct counts; Ms. Smith said staff will correct coding errors (for example, voter-type coding that misidentified some voters) on Monday.
