Just days after a recount was ordered in Georgia, thousands of ballots that had previously been uncounted on election night were discovered in Floyd County. The batch of 2,631 ballots were from early voting.
According to Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, election officials failed to upload the votes to a ballot-scanning machine and had apparently left the memory card in the machine.
Gabriel Sterling, the director of elections operations in the state, said during a press conference that the problem was “not an equipment issue” but “a person not doing their job properly.”
“It’s very concerning,” Martin said. “But this doesn’t appear to be a widespread issue. I’m glad the audit revealed it, and it’s important that all votes are counted,” said Luke Martin, Floyd County GOP chairman.
Raffensperger is asking Robert Brady, the executive director of the Floyd County Board of Elections, to step down, reports Fox 5.
While the update does not change the outcome in Georgia, the percentages are slightly different now.
Here is the "unofficial breakdown" of the Floyd County batch, according to Sterling:
Here is the unofficial breakdown of the ballots that weren’t originally uploaded I Floyd. 1,643 votes for Pres. Trump, 865 for former VP Biden and 16 for Libertarian Jo Jorgensen. That is +778 for President Trump that will be reflected in the certified result. #gapol
— Gabriel Sterling (@GabrielSterling) November 17, 2020
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that this is the “most significant issue” that has been discovered through the recount thus far.
WATCH: "This is why you do the audits," said @GabrielSterling with the @GaSecofState's Office after it was discovered that Floyd County elections officials failed to include about 2,500 votes in their results. @FOX5Atlanta #gapol pic.twitter.com/rEP0AX3Z34
— Claire Simms (@Claire_FOX5) November 17, 2020