State Releases Further Details of Signature Match Partnership with UGA

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced this week that the Office of the Secretary of State would be partnering with the University of Georgia on a statewide review of signature match in the Peach State. The partnership will help instill confidence in Georgia’s absentee ballot system in future elections.

“We are confident that elections in Georgia are secure, reliable, and effective,” said Raffensperger. “Despite endless lawsuits and wild allegations from Washington, D.C. pundits, we have seen no actual evidence of widespread voter fraud, though we are investigating all credible reports. Nonetheless, we look forward to working with the University of Georgia on this signature match review to further instill confidence in Georgia’s voting systems.”

Secretary Raffensperger has asked researchers at the University of Georgia’s School of Public and International Affairs to conduct research, including a randomized signature match study of election materials handled at the county level in the November 3 Presidential contest. This work will also include research on processes used at the county level to perform signature-matching.

The work UGA will perform is a study of a sample of signed envelopes in each county from the presidential election. It is intended to be forward-looking, helping to inform and optimize election administration for future electoral contests in the State of Georgia.

“Because there has been so much different information spread about this issue, I am ordering this extraordinary step,” Raffensperger said Wednesday. “Our goal is to do our best to answer every and all questions. At this point, we understand it would be difficult to change some minds … but as I said earlier, all voters need to be respected equally. All voters deserve to have faith in this election system.”