ATLANTA — Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp says his office has launched an investigation into Fulton County’s election procedures.

State elections officials want to know whether the county’s performance was poor enough to throw off some of the final results from the July 31 primary, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

“I wouldn’t restrict it or limit it to any race at this point,” said Kemp spokesman Jared Thomas, who declined to elaborate.

Kemp has expressed concerns about what he called “numerous and substantial issues” surrounding the administration of the election in the metro Atlanta county.

County authorities have said some delays were caused by the process of counting early ballots, or votes that were cast before election day.

About 690 voters in Sandy Springs and southeast Atlanta were assigned a wrong state Senate or state House race last week, but Fulton County officials say the errors weren’t enough to change the outcome of any races.

However, a losing candidate in the Fulton County sheriff’s race thinks the problems go deeper and has requested a recount.

“There’s so many discrepancies in the numbers, it’s pitiful,” former Sheriff Richard Lankford said.

It’s not the first time the county’s election process has drawn criticism.

In 2008, its absentee ballot processing went so slow that the county had to hire FedEx to ship nearly 4,000 ballots to voters overnight, costing more than $300,000. Then, after closing the polls, workers spent 53 hours in a warehouse counting absentee and provisional ballots.