Confidence in Georgia’s voting process grew with the 2024 election, with 98% of Georgians reporting that they had no problems with casting a ballot.
That’s according to a new survey released this week of 1,541 Georgians who voted in November’s presidential election. Another 98.5% said they felt safe at the voting booth, while 98.3% praised poll workers for their performance.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger lauded the outcome of the survey, saying, “These results show what we’ve been saying all along: Georgia elections are secure and accessible.” He went on to thank the 159 election directors in Georgia for their part in making the process a success.
The survey also noted that over 96% of surveyed voters had a positive experience while voting and nearly 94% found it easy to cast a ballot.
Despite the overwhelmingly positive results, Georgia’s elections were not without issues. Polling places across multiple, heavily Democratic counties received non-credible bomb threats that briefly disrupted voting on Election Day.
Fulton County officials reported that their polling locations received 32 bomb threats via phone and email. At least two polling places in Union City temporarily closed due to the threats. Dekalb County police said they inspected six polling locations for bombs. All sites were cleared and reopened on Election Day, with officials extending their open hours.
Authorities determined that the bomb threats were of Russian origin.
“They’re up to mischief, it seems, and they don’t want us to have a smooth, fair, and accurate election,” Raffensperger said at the time. “Anything that can get us to fight amongst ourselves – they can count that as a victory.”
Despite the threats, 81% of those surveyed said they waited less than 10 minutes to vote.
The new survey, conducted by the University of Georgia’s School of Public and International Affairs, comes on the heels of the previous presidential election – one that was particularly fraught in Georgia.
Republican leadership, including President-elect Donald Trump and his allies, alleged that Georgia fell victim to widespread voter fraud. The theory has been repeatedly debunked since the 2020 election.
The level of confidence seemingly flipped between Republicans and Democrats this election. Just 54.7% of Georgia Democrats surveyed said they were “very confident” that their vote was properly counted, compared to 83.9% of Republicans.
Melissa Cruz is an elections reporting fellow who focuses on voter access issues for the USA TODAY Network. You can reach her at mcruz@gannett.com or on X, formerly Twitter, at @MelissaWrites22.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Confidence in Georgia’s voting system grew with 2024 election
