Joe Biden announced that he would expand ballot audits to test statewide legislators for suspicion

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence campaigned in Georgia for the second round of the state’s Senate election on Dec. 17.

Georgia secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced Thursday that his office will work with the University of Georgia to conduct a statewide audit of mail-in ballot signatures.

“We are investigating all credible reports of [election fraud]… We look forward to working with the University of Georgia to conduct this signature matching review to further build confidence in Georgia’s voting system.”

Mr Lafensperger had said mail-in ballots would be reviewed in Cobb County, the state’s third most populous. His office has received reports that the county may not have properly verified the signatures during the state primary. Mr. Laffensperger would not say whether his office had received similar complaints about the Nov. 3 election.

The University of Georgia’s School of Public and International Affairs will conduct research during a statewide audit, including a “random signature matching study of election materials processed at the county level in the November 3 presidential election.” Researchers will also examine the process for matching signatures at the county level.

The study will be “forward-looking” and will help electoral authorities simplify future elections in the state, Lafensperger’s office said. In a press release earlier this week, Mr. Laffensperger said the audits “will not change the outcome of the November election.”

Biden won Georgia by a narrow margin of 12,000 votes.

But Greg Dolezal, a Senator from The state of Joe, recently self-tested Georgia’s rigour for matching signatures on mail-in ballots, and found it to be a failure.

Dolezal filed his application for a postal ballot on November 28 to be used in the second round of senate elections. When he submitted his application, he deliberately used a different signature than that on his ID card. As a result, he successfully received a postal ballot on Tuesday (December 15).

Ms. Dolezal’s experience raises questions about whether the state actually audits signatures on mail-in ballots, and whether the secretary of State’s office’s collaboration with the University of Georgia was rigged.