Georgia's secretary of state is asking county election directors to conduct a post-election audit of Tuesday's Senate runoff between incumbent Raphael Warnock, a Democrat, and Republican challenger Herschel Walker, reports The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Brad Raffensperger, who won reelection for secretary of state in November's midterm elections, said the audit is optional.
State Elections Director Blake Evans urged counties to participate.
"I believe that an audit will bring additional public confidence to the outcome of the election. My hope is that all counties choose to participate," Evans wrote in a message to county election officials.
Raffensperger in mid-November chose his race for a mandatory audit — one is required for general elections in even-numbered years on a race selected by the secretary of state. It must be completed before the election results are certified.
Officials say the goal of that audit was to verify that the outcome of the secretary of state's race was correct and, more broadly, to boost confidence in elections.
Former President Donald Trump targeted Raffensperger after the 2020 general election for failing to overturn his narrow loss in Georgia. In a January 2021 phone call, Trump suggested Raffensperger could "find" enough votes to reverse Democrat Joe Biden's presidential victory.
Trump blamed voter fraud for his loss in other states as well. State officials and federal investigators, including Trump's attorney general, have said there was no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 contest.
A win by Warnock on Tuesday would give the Democrats a 51-49 majority — allowing the party's lawmakers to hold a majority in every Senate committee.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.