Imaginary Election Law Violations in 2020 Don’t Justify Real Ones in 2026

If outrage could be tabulated early, some corners of Georgia’s political internet would have certified results weeks ago.

The latest accusation now being breathlessly recycled by the Election Integrity Industrial Complex is that Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger “violated” O.C.G.A. § 21-2-386 in the 2020 election by allowing early tabulation of absentee ballots.

It sounds ominous.

It sounds illegal.

It is also wrong.

The problem is simple and familiar: critics are intentionally, or conveniently, confusing processing ballots with tabulating results. Georgia law has always prohibited tabulation of votes before the polls close. That prohibition was not suspended in 2020, waived by executive fiat, or quietly ignored by some shadowy, deep-state bureaucracy in the Secretary of State’s office. It remained the law then, just as it is now.

What was permitted in 2020, by an emergency rule adopted by the State Election Board, was early processing of absentee ballots.

GPB’s coverage of the State Election Board’s November 23, 2020, meeting makes the same point: counties could process in advance, but “Georgia law does not allow tabulation before polls close.”

Let’s hop into the Wayback Machine with Mr. Peabody and Sherman. Grab your face mask—mine’s UGA themed—because we’re headed back to those fun ol’ days of 2020, when a global pandemic was in full swing.

Back then, local election offices were overwhelmed by mailed-in absentee ballots…you know, those hand-marked paper ballots the Election Integrity Industrial Complex insists every Georgia voter must use. Most temporary election workers are retirees – senior citizens who were understandably cautious about COVID, especially given the elevated mortality rates for their age group. Under normal circumstances, only about 3–5% of Georgia voters cast ballots by mail. In 2020, that number exploded to roughly 26% as over 1 million voters mailed in their votes.

Faced with the double challenge of fewer available workers and a massive surge in mailed-in (hand-marked, paper) absentee ballots, the State Election Board allowed local election offices to begin opening and scanning ballots early, while continuing to prohibit any tabulation until the polls closed on Election Day.

Counties were also required to provide notice of the processing of ballots early to allow for monitoring and transparency.

Processing means opening outer envelopes, verifying signatures, preparing ballots, and scanning them so they are ready to be counted after polls close. It does not mean producing vote totals, printing tapes, releasing results, or peeking at outcomes to cost Donald Trump the 2020 election. Those steps remain locked behind poll-closing time, exactly as the statute requires.

This distinction isn’t clever lawyering. It’s the plain meaning of the statute, the rule, and the process used in counties across the state. If scanning a ballot were the same thing as tabulating it, then every modern voting system in America would be illegal by design.

Think back to the last time you voted in-person. You went to the voting booth, you made your choices on the touch-screen, you printed your ballot (and hopefully checked to ensure it was correct), and, finally, you inserted your ballot into a machine that scanned it.

Green light! Good to go…collect your sticker and #PostthePeach.

Machines scan ballots, but DO NOT tabulate the results.

Tabulation happens when results are compiled and reported. Georgia law understands the difference, even if social media lawyers refuse to.

And this is where the Election Integrity Industrial Complex comes in. The goal here isn’t to improve election administration or clarify statutory language. It’s to manufacture outrage, harvest clicks and donations, and keep a perpetual sense of crisis alive. Every technical term is flattened. Every administrative safeguard is recast as a conspiracy. Every explanation is dismissed as a cover-up.

Ironically, the very people screaming about “lawlessness” are the ones ignoring what the law actually says.

Raffensperger didn’t violate O.C.G.A. § 21-2-386 in 2020.

He followed it, while using the lawful tools available to ensure ballots were handled efficiently and transparently during a once-in-a-century election cycle. Pretending otherwise doesn’t make the claim stronger. It just makes the outrage louder.

The hypocrisy from the perpetual outrage machine is once again glaring here as it demands that the Secretary of State dutifully follow every whim of the State Elections Board NOW, while claiming he violated the law by following the directions of the  State Elections Board THEN.

And louder outrage, as we’ve learned, is the Election Integrity Industrial Complex’s entire business model.