How many illegal votes in georgia in the 2020 presidential election

Checked on February 1, 2026
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Executive summary

The available public records and official investigations show only a tiny, documented number of potentially illegal ballots tied to Georgia’s 2020 presidential election — a handful of cases referred for prosecution (four felons, four non‑citizens and one misplaced ballot) — and multiple statewide audits and recounts found no evidence that fraudulent ballots changed the outcome [1] [2] [3]. Claims that hundreds of thousands of votes were “illegal” rest on procedural lapses or contested interpretations of paperwork, not on proven, counted fraudulent ballots that would alter the result [3] [4].

1. What the official investigations actually counted

Georgia’s State Election Board formally bound over for prosecution a small set of cases tied to the 2020 general election: four incidents involving felons voting or registering, four involving non‑citizens voting or registering, and one instance of misplaced ballots — a total of nine discrete incidents forwarded for criminal review [1]. Separately, Georgia’s investigative report into Fulton County’s 2020 processes concluded the initial tabulation, the statewide audit that included a hand count of every ballot, and the machine recount “reveal there was no evidence to suggest fraudulent ballots were scanned and counted in the final tabulated results” [2].

2. Why some political actors claim far larger numbers

After disclosure that more than 130 tabulator tapes lacked certifying signatures — described by officials as clerical lapses — some Republicans and citizen investigators amplified that procedural problem into claims that “over 300,000” early votes were “illegally certified” or otherwise invalid [3] [4] [5]. State officials, including Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, countered that the lack of a signature on tapes does not negate valid, ID‑verified ballots and that multiple audits and recounts affirmed the vote totals [3] [6].

3. Independent reviews, recounts and courts: consistent results

Multiple independent reviews — including a hand recount and machine recount statewide — upheld Joe Biden’s victory in Georgia and repeatedly found no evidence that fraudulent ballots were included in the final tallies that would change the outcome [2] [6]. Lawsuits seeking to overturn results largely failed for lack of credible evidence, and courts and neutral election experts have repeatedly described the kinds of fraud alleged by some pro‑Trump actors as extraordinarily rare [7] [8].

4. The narrow, proven incidents versus unproven allegations

Fact‑finding efforts turned up a small number of verifiable problems: a few instances of ineligible people voting or registration irregularities were identified and referred for prosecution, and procedural mistakes in Fulton County’s recount triggered reprimands — but officials stressed those findings did not change statewide results [1] [9]. Broader allegations — including thousands or hundreds of thousands of illegal votes — remain unproven in public records and have been amplified by partisan actors and some media outlets while relying on disputed interpretations of procedural errors [5] [4].

5. Ongoing probes and limits of available public evidence

Federal and local probes continue to pursue records and process questions — for example, warrants and searches for 2020 ballots, tabulator tapes, ballot images and voter rolls in Fulton County — but as of these records, searches and lawsuits do not equate to findings of systemic illegal voting that changed the election outcome [10] [11] [12]. Public reporting and official documents do not provide a single consolidated figure for every “illegal” vote beyond the discrete incidents referred for prosecution, and thus there is no authoritative tally demonstrating widespread illegal voting in Georgia’s 2020 presidential contest [1] [2].

6. Bottom line: proven illegal votes and effect on the result

The best available, cited documentation shows a very small number of incidents referred for prosecution (four felons, four non‑citizens, one misplaced ballot) and multiple audits and recounts that affirm no fraudulent ballots were counted in the certified totals; therefore, there is no evidence that illegal votes in Georgia’s 2020 presidential election changed the outcome [1] [2] [3]. Alternative narratives that point to hundreds of thousands of “illegal” votes rely on procedural errors or contested readings of paperwork rather than proven, counted fraudulent ballots [3] [4].

Want to dive deeper?
What prosecutions resulted from the State Election Board referrals tied to Georgia's 2020 election?
What did the Fulton County investigation say about procedural errors in the 2020 recount and how were they remedied?
How do Georgia's audits and hand recount procedures work and what did they find in 2020?