There are precise instructions on how to fill out an absentee ballot, from the color ink to use — black or blue but definitely not red — to how to choose candidates by filling the oval without checks or X marks. That doesn’t mean every voter follows the guidelines. In most cases, the markings are close enough for Georgia’s machines to scan and count. In others, a bipartisan team of humans examined ballots and made a ruling. Explore Do your own election audit? In Georgia, digital images of every ballot cast are available as public records After ballot images were classified as public records, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution obtained complete scans of 145,000 Fulton County absentee ballots cast in November’s election for a $240 records retrieval fee to the county. The ballots show the different ways voters filled out the forms, how the computers read them and how a bipartisan group of humans counted them. Here are some excerpts of ballots with imperfect marks and their rulings. Ambiguous vote One voter filled in the bubble for Republican David Perdue completely but also had a smaller mark for his Democratic opponent, Jon Ossoff. The vote was initially flagged as ambiguous but counted for Perdue after a review. Overvote: A Democratic-leaning voter filled in the bubble for all eight Democrats running in the U.S. Senate special election for the seat Republican Kelly Loeffler held at the time.