KINGSLAND, Ga. — As people head to the polls Tuesday for Georgia's Presidential Primary Election, voter security is top of mind. The rhetoric surrounding the 2020 Presidential Election left many people questioning the legitimacy of their voters. Since then, lawmakers in Georgia passed the Election Integrity Act to expand security measures for elections.
Camden County election officials say they want to be as transparent as possible so people trust that their votes count.
Dennis Irvin is the election technician in Camden County. He told First Coast News that when voters walk into their precincts, they will be checked in with a poll-pad.
"It's an iPad," Irvin said. "It's loaded with our voter file and it's secured."
Voters will then be lead to a touchscreen where they will mark their choices, print their ballots and scan it into a monitor. There is a lot that goes on behind-the-scenes before, during and after the election to ensure votes are secure and counted accurately.
Irvin said election workers undergo mandatory training before election day. They learn everything about how the ballots are supposed to be counted and who is allowed to handle them.
"The ballot is printed at the polling place by the voter themselves, it never leaves their hands," Irvin said. "It goes right from their hands to the scanner where their ballot is cast. At that point, it stays in the box."
The ballots stay in the box until the end of the night. A staff member is required to sign a form stating they have custody of the ballots, and then take them directly to the election office. Irvin said the Secretary of State's Office will also order post-election audits.
"Generally, we work in three groups of two, a Democrat and a Republican," Irvin said. "And they independently verify that the names on the ballots match the names that are the results that we've received."
Georgia's Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger confirmed with First Coast News that there are already audits planned for the General Election in November.
"I think we've shown that we have a verifiable paper ballot, we can audit any race," Raffensperger said. "And in fact, this fall, we'll be auditing a statewide race. And it looks like the only one we'll have will be the presidential race plus a few others. So, that'll probably be some congressional seats, just to give voters that confidence that here's what we've got on election night with the machine totals. And then this is what we've gotten when we did the audit."
Assistant Supervisor of Elections for Camden County Rockney Carter says this primary election will be a good run-through for his staff members. He hopes it will help voters feel more confident casting their ballots.
"We want to reassure the community that we are dedicated to upholding the highest standards of transparency and accountability, as per Georgia law, that every vote matters, every vote counts,” Carter said.