Restoring Election Integrity: Authenticating the Count

This is the third part of the Restoring Election Integrity series. In the previous two articles, we discussed how to authenticate the ballot and the voter. This article will focus on the third pillar of election integrity: how to authenticate the count. How do we ensure that only legitimate, properly cast ballots are included in the final tally?

✅ Ballots That SHOULD Be Counted

A valid ballot must generally satisfy all of the following criteria:

1. Cast by an Eligible, Registered Voter The ballot must come from someone who is a citizen, of voting age, properly registered in the correct jurisdiction, and not disqualified (e.g., by felony conviction where applicable under state law). Federal law explicitly prohibits non-citizens from registering to vote or casting ballots in federal elections. White House

New Laws in TN improve Election Integrity

Tennessee passed new election integrity legislation in 2025, which took effect for the 2026 election. Beginning January 1, 2026, Tennessee law prohibits the use of a temporary driver’s license as verification of a person’s identification on an application for ballot. Poll workers received instructions to examine the driver’s license to determine whether it was a temporary license.

2. One Ballot Per Voter If a voter submits more than one mail ballot or tries to vote in person after already voting by mail, only one ballot will be counted, and the instance of double voting will be flagged for further investigation. Bipartisan Policy Center
3. Properly Completed The voter’s choices must be clearly and legibly marked per instructions — using the proper ink, filling in boxes completely, and not making stray marks. Undervoting (leaving some races blank) is generally acceptable.
4. Submitted on Time The ballot must be postmarked, received by an election office, or both, by the deadline set in state law. Ballots that arrive after the cut-off date/time are typically rejected. IGNITE
5. Properly Signed and Authenticated (for Mail Ballots) Mail ballot envelopes typically require a voter’s signature, identification number, or other identifying information. Before a ballot is counted, election officials check to make sure the signature or identification number matches that which is on file. Bipartisan Policy Center
6. Provisional Ballots — When Verified If election officials determine the voter was eligible, the provisional ballot is added to the official certified results and counted after Election Day, during canvassing. Election Desk

❌ Ballots That Should NOT Be Counted

1. Unverified or Unregistered Voters The most common reasons provisional ballots are rejected include: the voter was not registered, the voter cast a ballot in the wrong jurisdiction, the vote was cast in the wrong precinct, or the voter had already cast a ballot for that election. Council of State Governments
2. Signature Mismatch (Mail Ballots) A voter’s ballot shall be considered invalid if the elections official has determined that the signature on the vote-by-mail ballot identification envelope does not match the voter’s signature in the voter’s registration record, and the voter does not cure the discrepancy within the allowed timeframe.
3. Unsigned Ballots A vote-by-mail ballot envelope that is not signed by the voter is also considered invalid if the voter does not cure it by providing the elections official with a signed form within the required timeframe.
4. Overvoted Ballots Marking more choices than permitted (overvoting) renders a ballot spoiled and invalid. In close contests, this is particularly consequential. Wikipedia
5. Spoiled or Defaced Ballots A ballot may be spoiled by failing to mark the ballot at all, or by defacing the ballot instead of attempting to vote. Wikipedia
6. Late Ballots Ballots received after state-mandated deadlines — regardless of when they were cast — are typically rejected in most states.
7. Double-Voted Ballots / Duplicates Virginia’s statewide voter database tracks every vote cast; once a ballot is submitted — whether in person, by mail, or through early voting — it is recorded in the database and pollbook, preventing counting of additional ballots under the same voter’s name. Fairfax County
8. Fraudulent Ballots Mail ballots suspected of fraudulent activity are set aside for further investigation and, when appropriate, referred to law enforcement for prosecution. Bipartisan Policy Center

🔒 How to Prevent Invalid Ballots from Entering the Count

1. Signature Verification Robust security measures include verifying voter identities through signature matching and unique identification numbers, secure and tamper-evident ballot envelopes, and meticulous tracking systems to monitor ballots from distribution to return. Default
2. Chain of Custody Ballot security begins with preserving the chain of custody throughout the counting workflow. Election officials craft detailed plans for maintaining ballot custody against risks.
3. Logic and Accuracy Testing of Machines Before each election, voting machines undergo rigorous logic and accuracy testing to verify their ability to read and tabulate ballots correctly. Representatives from political parties are invited to observe these tests to ensure transparency.
4. Post-Election Canvass After Election Day, a canvass reconciles the total ballots cast with the number of voters, confirming that the data from voting machines matches printed reports. All discrepancies are addressed before certification.
5. Risk-Limiting Audits Election offices also conduct periodic risk-limiting audits, comparing a random sample of paper ballots with electronic results for accuracy.
6. Ballot Tracking Systems Many election officials use an election management system to track every ballot issued and prevent double voting, update voter registration lists daily, and balance the number of ballots received against the number of voters who applied for one. Bipartisan Policy Center
7. Unique Ballot Identifiers Secure ballot envelope identifiers, such as bar codes, provide a reliable, auditable mechanism to confirm that only eligible citizens receive and cast ballots, reducing the risk of fraud. White House
8. Bipartisan Observation Having representatives from both major parties present during counting and testing is a widely used safeguard to catch errors and deter manipulation.

The Core Principle

Authenticating the count means that every eligible vote is counted exactly once, and no ineligible or fraudulent vote contaminates the result. The tension in election administration is always balancing the goal of counting every legitimate vote against the goal of excluding illegitimate ones — which is why cure processes, provisional ballots, and canvassing procedures exist as important middle-ground mechanisms.

What Can Happen When Laws and Election Policies Are Not Followed?

In January of 2026, Fulton County election voting records from 2020 were seized by the FBI. What follows is a summary of Election Integrity Network Founder Cleta Mitchell. You will see from this report the various ways election counts can be compromised.

Key Highlights from the Election Integrity Summary and Report

The investigative report, released on January 6, 2026, by the Election Oversight Group, details 26 counts of potential violations and irregularities in Fulton County’s handling of the 2020 General Election. Drawing from official records, it paints a picture of what Election Integrity investigators see as systemic failures that raise serious questions about the integrity of the process. You can access the entire report by clicking here.

• Ballot Count Discrepancies: On November 4, 2020, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger stated on national television that only about 94,000 ballots remained to be counted statewide, with President Trump leading by over 103,000 votes. Yet, the final tally included over 5 million ballots—adding roughly 300,000 more than expected. In Fulton County alone, absentee ballots doubled from 74,000 reported on Election Day to approximately 148,000 by the time counting concluded, with no clear explanation.
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• Absentee Ballot Issues: Over one million “extra” absentee ballots were ordered by Fulton County on October 16, 2020—after the mailing deadline, without required envelopes or stubs. Tens of thousands arrived at State Farm Arena in unsecured carts post-Election Day, lacking chain of custody documentation. Shockingly, only six absentee ballots were rejected for signature mismatches out of ~148,000, indicating a near-total failure in signature verification.
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• Digital Record Destruction: No digital records exist for any of the 376,863 in-person votes cast in Fulton County, with all corresponding ballot images destroyed in violation of law. For the ~148,000 absentee ballots, 132,284 lack SHA authentication files (digital “fingerprints”), and 132,286 SHA files appear deleted, many with anomalous metadata suggesting deliberate manipulation.
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• Voter-Ballot Mismatch: Official records show 148,319 absentee ballots counted, but only 125,784 voters credited with casting them—resulting in 22,535 more ballots than voters.
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• Early Voting and Tabulator Problems: For 315,000 early votes, no required backup records like daily recap sheets or voter lists exist. Tabulator records are incomplete: only nine of 148 tabulators have mandatory open/zero tapes, and 20,713 ballots are attributed to non-existent machines. Memory cards were unlawfully swapped, seals broken, and returns printed on surrogate machines.
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• Recount Anomalies: The post-election hand count added 6,691 fictitious votes that were never corrected or investigated. Another 13,000-vote discrepancy emerged compared to original results, 3,930 ballots were double-counted, and hundreds of test ballots were included in official totals. Thousands of ballots appear in one count but not the other.
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• Broader Systemic Failures: The report documents unauthorized access to election systems, failure to test machines properly, disabling ballot paper authentication statewide, and providing encryption keys insecurely. It also notes over 103% voter registration in Georgia (113.8% in Fulton), unaccounted-for ballots, and unfulfilled promises of audits by state officials.

As noted in the report’s comprehensive overview, these issues stem from fundamental lapses, including reprogramming voting systems just before the election without re-testing and intentional removal of authentication files. The testimony from Dr. Philip Stark in Curling v. Raffensperger underscores the severity: Fulton County lacks basic accounting controls, making it impossible to determine the true winner, with electronic records “not intact”. (https://www.stat.berkeley.edu/~stark/Preprints/cgg-rept-9.pdf)

Why This Matters Now

Even in 2026, understanding what went wrong in 2020 is crucial for safeguarding future elections. This report isn’t about relitigating the past—it’s about demanding accountability and reforms to prevent repeats. No meaningful investigations have addressed these findings, despite multiple complaints filed with the Georgia State Election Board. The recent FBI developments, as discussed in Moncla’s posts, highlight the ongoing fight for transparency. (https://x.com/KevinMoncla/status/2018634341144809969?s=20)

Challenges in Tennessee

At this writing, Knoxville, Tennessee just completed the first of three elections that will take place in 2026. Our first election was a primary election which often poses many challenges. Tennessee does not require voters to register by party. At the polls, voters sign an oath affirming that they are genuinely affiliated with the party in whose primary they are voting. Knowingly signing that oath falsely — in order to influence the opposing party’s primary — can constitute perjury and carries potential fines up to $1,000 under Tennessee law (TCA § 2-19-102 and § 2-19-107).

It is estimated that cross-over voting reached 16%. A contributing factor to this large number rests with the involvement of a public official encouraging crossover voting! Knox County Democrat Commissioner Courtney Durrett recorded a Facebook video in which she openly stated she voted in the Republican primary and encouraged others to do the same.

An elected official publicly encouraging voters to sign the party oath in bad faith raises serious legal and ethical concerns. It is a direct attempt to interfere with the Republican primary and override the will of Republican voters.

I will end this discussion with an important question. Should crossover votes be counted? What modifications should be made to Tennessee election laws to assure that we can authenticate the voter, authenticate the ballot and authenticate the count?

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