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Home Front: Politix
Error Rate: 172,543 Times Too High - Georgia's Election System Under Fire
2025-10-22
Key sections:
[GeorgiaRecord] Inside Grady County’s 2024 Election Logs: What the Data Shows—and Why It Matters

On paper, the 2024 General Election in Grady County, Georgia, looks like any other local contest. But inside the machine logs—the SLOG files from precinct tabulators—there’s a different story. A close read of those logs reveals error patterns that raise urgent questions about federal compliance, constitutional requirements, and basic public confidence in how votes are recorded and reported.

This post walks through the findings of the “2024 Grady County Georgia General Election — SLOG Error Analysis Report,” and then situates those findings alongside comments delivered to the Georgia House Blue Ribbon Study Committee on Election Procedures on October 16, 2025.

WHAT WAS ANALYZED
  • 10,768 total ballots

  • ~366,112 ballot positions (about 34 per ballot)

  • 11 Grady County SLOG files from ICP precinct scanners (Cairo 5, Higdon, Pine Park, Midway, Spence, AV2, Blowing Cave, Cairo 4, Whigham, AV1, Woodland)

A “ballot position” is a single choice on a ballot—like a candidate selection or a yes/no on a referendum.

THE HEADLINE: ERROR RATE FAR ABOVE FEDERAL TARGETS
The report identifies 6,317 machine-logged errors across four categories, affecting 58.66% of all ballots. When measured against the federal target error rate of 1 error per 10,000,000 ballot positions, the observed rate is 1 error per 58 positions—about 0.0173%.1 That’s approximately 172,543 times higher than the Election Assistance Commission’s (EAC) target referenced in federal law at 52 U.S.C. § 21081 (often cited as “1 in 10,000,000” under the Help America Vote Act’s performance metrics).

Primary error types found:

  • “Ballot has been reversed” — 2,908 instances (46.03% of all errors)

  • “Ballot format or ID is unrecognizable” — 1,776 instances (28.11%)

  • “Could not find QR code on ballot” — 1,349 instances (21.36%)

  • “QR code Signature mismatch” — 284 instances (4.50%)

While that last category is the smallest by count, it has outsized significance because of how similar QR code-related defects have played out in real elections.

CONSTITUTIONAL AND LEGAL CONTEXT RAISED BY THE REPORT
The presentation’s conclusions explicitly connect these findings to:

  • Federal standards: The report states the observed error rate deviates sharply from the EAC’s benchmark and concludes the system “FAILS EAC STANDARD.”

  • Georgia Constitution Article II, Section I, Paragraph I (“Elections by the people shall be by secret ballot and shall be conducted in accordance with procedures provided by law.”): The authors argue the system, as deployed, does not meet minimum standards and is therefore “in contravention” of the Constitution’s method-of-voting clause.

It’s worth noting the presentation asserts “No change since deployed in 2020, even after known issues reported,” which, if accurate, raises oversight and certification questions—especially in light of the EAC’s earlier acknowledgment of QR-code defects and Tennessee’s response.

A PATH FORWARD
  • Investigate the 2024 and 2025 elections statewide with a particular focus on precinct-level SLOGs and QR-code handling behaviors.

  • Require evidence of conformity with EAC performance thresholds before redeployment.

  • Consider operational mitigations: expanded parallel testing, real-time anomaly detection, and contingency workflows for precincts that encounter QR-related errors.

  • Evaluate alternatives that honor Georgia’s constitutional requirements and maximize public verifiability—up to and including hand-marked, hand-counted paper ballots where practical and procedurally sound.

The central promise of elections is not just that the math adds up at the end—it’s that every step along the way is auditable, understandable, and compliant with law. Grady County’s logs are a timely reminder that the details inside our systems matter, and that restoring trust requires not only correct results, but also systems that demonstrably meet the standards the law—and the people—demand.
Posted by:NN2N1

#2  comments); ?>werwer
Posted by: Lord Garth   2025-10-22 09:39  

#1  comments); ?>werwer
Posted by: NN2N1   2025-10-22 09:09  

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