Georgians Have Important New Tool to Verify That the Results of the Walker-Warnock Matchup Are Trustworthy
New Tech Empowers Georgians to Verify the Election on the Basis of Hard Data
Many Georgians don’t feel confident that their leaders were elected fairly, but they have no way to test their suspicions. Now they do: the America Counts1 election audit system. The first step is ACTUAL VOTE – an app that uses crowdsourced people power to ensure that precinct results counted at polling places are accurately reported.
Already in use nationwide, ACTUAL VOTE shows with hard data where results are reported accurately and where reporting is in error and needs fixing.
“At a time of crises of confidence it is important to provide Georgians the ability to independently verify the vote count in their polling places” says Daniel Wolf, director of the America Counts election audit system, an initiative of Democracy Counts.
Users video-record the results tapes from counting machines at polling places using ACTUAL VOTE on their smart phones. These videos upload to a public read-only database and then are compared to official results. Use of ACTUAL VOTE will improve trust in elections when audit results show no discrepancies. But when discrepancies are discovered, the evidence can be used to compel election officials to make corrections.
“Trust must be earned”, adds Wolf, “and Georgians are now in a position to see whether their electoral processes have earned their trust.”
Democracy Counts, Inc., is a nonprofit tech startup that develops election audit software that empowers Americans to conduct rigorous audit checks on their local election machinery. Young people are most comfortable with the new tech but anyone can use it just by downloading the free app.
“Conducting legitimate election audits in today's hyper-polarized political environment is a real challenge" says Wolf. "Sloppy and partisan attempts don’t add to the trustworthiness of elections. Instead they damage the reputability of honest audits and auditors. So they must be nonpartisan and adhere to the highest standards of impartiality and rigor so as to produce court-quality evidence that, on the one hand, can lead to corrections in faulty elections, and on the other, demonstrate the trustworthiness of accurate elections.”
Learn more about the America Counts election audit system and what Georgians can do to help to improve their elections next Tuesday.
Visit www.AmericaCounts.us/actual-vote-portal/
Daniel Wolf
Democracy Counts, Inc.
+1 619-270-6434
d.wolf@democracycounts.org
WATCH NOW: Meet Brittney, a people's election referee! at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjxVUrtQv28
1 https://www.americacounts.us
2 https://americacounts.us/the-need-for-election-audits-2/
3 https://www.americacounts.us/actual-vote-portal