Trump's team triumphs in Georgia as vote counting is done manually
In the United States, the process of tallying votes during elections is more intricate compared to Germany. Consequently, machines are commonly utilized. However, Georgia has decided to deviate from this norm by employing manual counting for their upcoming presidential election. Some might find this decision appealing.
Georgia's election commission recently made headlines by controversially announcing they will manually count ballots cast in polling stations for the 2024 presidential election in November, despite objections from election officials and poll workers. Reportedly, allies of former U.S. President Donald Trump pushed this rule through the commission, according to CNN.
The vote in the commission occurred with a three to two majority. Experts recommend that Georgia is now the sole state implementing such a rule. Critics express concerns about potential chaos on election day and a delayed announcement of the results in this high-stakes battleground state between Republicans and Democrats, as per CBS's report.
Recently, the election authority has made several questionable decisions. Georgia Democrats have filed lawsuits in response. Known as a swing state, Georgia lies in the southern U.S. and is significant due to its close results between Republicans and Democrats. Even after the 2020 election loss, Trump raised questions about the counting process in Georgia and accused them of election fraud.
CBS reported that Democrats fear Trump's Republicans could be laying the groundwork for another attempt to dispute the election results if Trump loses narrowly again. On November 5, Trump's Republican opponent, standing at 78 years old, will face off against Kamala Harris, the Democrat.
Given the robust direct democracy in the U.S. on both local and state levels, ballots can consist of numerous decisions and issues spread over several densely-printed pages. Furthermore, multiple offices like state attorneys are directly elected by the people, making the counting process significantly more complex than in Germany and frequently requiring machine assistance.
The decision by Georgia's election commission to manually count ballots for the 2024 presidential election has sparked controversy, with critics expressing concerns about potential chaos and a delayed announcement of results. This contrasts with the usual process in the US presidential election, where machines are commonly used in tallying votes due to the intricate nature of the count.
In light of Trump's accusations of election fraud during the 2020 election in Georgia and the upcoming 2024 presidential election, where Trump's Republican opponent will face off against Kamala Harris, the manual counting method could potentially be a point of contention.
