August 8, 2023
ATLANTA — In response to the Spalding County Board of Elections and Voter Registration’s plans to hand count ballots and employ the use of machine tabulation for future elections, All Voting is Local Georgia Campaign Manager Lana Goitia-Paz issued the following statement:
“Spalding County has caved to conspiracy theorists and Big Lie proponents by deciding to hand count ballots prior to certification. Hand counting ballots is slow and far more error-prone than machine counting. Elections become bogged down, and certification may be delayed when a county insists on hand counting. Additionally, hand counting ballots will add to the funding challenges that already burden the county. Instead of using resources to enhance the voting experience, Spalding will expend more staff time and money to run an unnecessary hand count.
“Extensive hand counts are promoted by those who wish to sow distrust into our elections. There will surely be discrepancies between machine tabulations and the hand count, simply due to human error. It’s why we switched to machine counting in the first place. By taking this action, officials are only fueling conspiracy theories and rhetoric seeking to question the integrity of our elections. All Voting is Local Georgia will continue to support the use of electronic voting machines, which are quicker to tabulate and more accurate, leading to more secure elections in Georgia.”