Georgia GOP sending delegation to Arizona to 'get a blueprint' for meaningless statewide audit: report

Republicans in Georgia are sending a delegation to Arizona to "get a blueprint" to replicate the controversial Arizona audit in the Peach State.

Conservative talk radio host John Frederick reports Georgia state Senators Burt Jones and Brandon Beach are "leading a delegation to [Arizona] tomorrow to meet with Arizona audit leaders and state senators to get a blueprint for a statewide forensic audit in Georgia."

Also on Monday, Georgia Public Broadcast reported on how such an audit would work.

"Now, prominent Republicans in Georgia, ranging from newly reelected party chairman David Shafer to both gubernatorial primary candidates seeking to unseat Gov. Brian Kemp, are calling for Georgia's ballots to go down a similar 'forensic audit' path after the 5 million presidential votes were already counted three times, including an audit, before the results were certified," Stephen Fowler reported. "Many of the lingering claims about Georgia's elections come from a dramatic rise in mail-in absentee ballots due to the coronavirus pandemic, leading to some genuine questions about a relatively unfamiliar part of the elections process. But much of the narrative around alleged voter fraud has been driven by baseless accusations of wrongdoing — and seemingly willful misrepresentations of steps officials take to keep ballots secure."

Georgia Public Broadcasting explained why it would be a waste of time and money.

"But based on a GPB News analysis of Georgia election rules and practices, extensive reporting on Georgia's new election system and interviews with elections experts, there is no way to 'forensically audit' absentee ballots or votes printed out by ballot-marking devices, and numerous safeguards are in place to verify only legal votes are counted. Additionally, any 'audit' done at this point could not alter the outcome or any election results, unlike pre-certification post-election audits many states conduct," Georgia Public Broadcasting noted. "The term 'forensic audit' is traditionally used in the financial world to uncover embezzlement or other financial crimes by combing through minute details of accounts. These issues are traced to individual transactions or people — but that is not possible with elections. The right to a secret ballot means after a voter's eligibility is confirmed (either in person or with signatures and identification for mail-in ballots), officials can no longer tie a ballot back to a specific person."