The risk-limiting audit, conducted by the Secretary of State's Office, will cover 14 congressional races and six statewide offices. The process begins at 10 a.m. on the south steps of the State Capitol, where a die roll will determine which batches of ballots are pulled for hand counting.

Risk-limiting audits are designed to reduce the chance that an incorrect winner was certified. Rather than recounting every ballot, the method uses a statistical sample to build confidence in the outcome, expanding the count if the initial sample does not provide enough evidence.

The audit follows the Nov. 3 midterm elections, which produced a decisive shift in Georgia politics. Democrats swept the state's constitutional offices and flipped control of the state House of Representatives. Among the party's biggest wins was the gubernatorial election of Keisha Lance Bottoms, who will become the first Black woman to serve as a governor in the United States.

The scale of the Democratic wave has made the accuracy of the vote count a matter of intense public interest, and the audit offers voters a transparent check on the machinery that produced those results. Election officials have stressed that the procedure is a standard post-election safeguard, not a response to any suspected problem.

The public is invited to observe the die roll at the Capitol, and the hand count is expected to proceed in the days that follow. Officials have not yet said when the audit will be complete or when results will be released.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as the audit gets underway.