Raffensperger visits county elections offices, assures a 'level playing field'

Caption

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger stands with a voting machine in Paulding County.

Credit: Sarah Kallis/GPB News

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger visited Paulding County to conduct a "health check" on the voting machines and elections office and answer election questions. 

Raffensperger says the logic and accuracy test, conducted on all machines before voting begins is mandatory and assures voting machines are accurate.

While there he also addressed false claims made by former President Donald Trump about Georgia’s election integrity.

“ I don't want anyone not to show up because they somehow think that it's not a level playing field," he said. "It's a level playing field. So if the candidates want to win elections, they need to turn out their people."

Raffensperger emphasized that Georgia elections are safe and secure. He also said the secretary of state’s office is taking proactive measures to prevent cyber attacks ahead of the November election.

The secretary of state’s office has already dealt with cyber threats this year. A data leak in its new voter registration cancellation website exposed a vulnerability in the system and briefly exposed voter data after the site was launched earlier this month.

Raffensperger said in a press conference Tuesday that no legitimate registrations were successfully canceled despite being targeted himself.

“That was about less than an hour fixing that," he said. "And no one, you know, canceled anyone in that period. But that was then, you know, that little error was picked up and it was taken care of.”

Raffensperger said the portal is helpful to voters moving out of state, but critics of the website say it could result in erroneous cancellations for some voters.

The secretary of state's office will continue to conduct checks on county election offices ahead of the November election, Raffensperger said.