Election Day

• Election Night Reporting: 8,367
• Cast Vote Records: 8,367
• Ballot Images: 8,178

Recount

• Election Night Reporting: 8,414
• Cast Vote Records: 8,414
• Ballot Images: (not available)

Aberrations

• Double counted ballots in original count: 8
• Ballots not appearing in recount: 9
• Ballots added to the recount: 51
• Ballots in the cast vote record without ballot images: 237
• Overwritten votes in cast vote record: 125

Double-Scanned Ballots

There is a small batch of 8 absentee ballots where the entire batch was rescanned immediately after the original scan. Click on the original and duplicate to confirm that the ballots are identical.

It's unclear if they were properly removed from the cast vote record due to a overwrite issue that will be discussed later.

Presidential Ballots

There are also 7 absentee ballots that were replaced between the two counts. These ballots and their precincts matched up well, so we can assume that these were duplicates.

There were a few extra presidential ballots that were added, but I couldn't yet determine which ballots they were replacing

Critical Issue: Overwriting of Votes

In Appling County, a critical issue has emerged: 125 ballots were removed and substituted in the cast vote records. This can be confirmed by comparing the ballot images directly against the cast vote record.

Download the original 2020 Cast Vote Record for Appling County, Georgia to see for yourself.

Once you have opened up the file, compare the presidential choice on line 41 to the ballot image at 00210_00003_000002 to see that the vote has indeed changed from Trump to Biden.

The reason for this replacement is unclear, but it might be due to the assignment of identical tabulator numbers to two different systems. How the cast vote record could be so different than the ballot image's audit marks has to be adequately addressed as this poses a serious issue to the integrity of the election system.

Tabulator 210 - Batch 2

For batch 2, the original 25 ballot images were removed and replaced by a completely different set of 10 records in the cast vote records

Tabulator 210 - Batch 3

For batch 3, the original 25 ballot images were removed and replaced by a different set of 9 records in the cast vote records

Tabulator 210 - Batch 4

For batch 4, the original 25 ballot images were removed and replaced by a new set of 8 records in the cast vote records

Tabulator 210 - Batch 5

For batch 5, the original 25 ballot images were removed and replaced by a new set of 25 records in the cast vote records

Tabulator 210 - Batch 6

For batch 6, the original 25 ballot images were removed and replaced by a new set of 25 records in the cast vote records

Cast Vote Record vs. Ballot Images

There is an amazing run of 237 ballots in the original count that are in the Cast Vote Record, but no ballot images were provided. These ballots are overwhelmingly for Trump at 232 vs. Biden's 5 votes. This explains why there is a 189-ballot increase in the cast vote record vs. the number of ballot images.

Recount Ballots

There are 51 new absentee ballots added to the ballot record in the recount. These ballots were added sequentially in three batches with no observable pattern on why they were added.

Conclusion

The situation in which 125 ballots went missing and were replaced by 77 different ballots has led to a discrepancy of 48 ballots in the official count, indicating that the issue was not adequately addressed. Adding a touch of irony, Batch 5 in this group turned out to be a duplicate of Batch 4, which only compounds the confusion in analyzing these issues.

The replacement of ballots has raised significant concerns, particularly with an instance where a ballot that was filled out correctly underwent adjudication, resulting in entirely different choices for the senatorial vote. This kind of discrepancy is something that should alarm any election official, as it points to serious flaws in the ballot handling and counting process.

The fact that the cast vote record can be entirely different from the ballot images is deeply concerning. It underscores the need for transparency in all counties regarding their cast vote records and ballot images. Moreover, regular recounts of ballots should be conducted to minimize such discrepancies.

Given these numerous problems in a relatively small county, we are now requesting the ballot images from the recount. An updated analysis will be provided once these images are obtained.