There are approximately ten plaintiffs in an ongoing lawsuit about the election and ballot tabulation in Fulton County (Atlanta), Georgia. The state and local officials had been denying access to the physical ballots, only permitting a review of low resolution scanned images. However, an expert testified a disparity of approximately 21% (of those “low resolution” absentee ballot batches) from what the state reported to what the auditors were able to see. A large number of the scanned ballots appear to have been counted twice.
The only way to really tell if any of the batches contained duplicated or photocopied ballots would be to look at the physical ballots (preferred) or to look at high-resolution images of the physical ballots.
Today a Georgia judge agreed to allow the plaintiffs to review the physical ballots in a process yet determined (future order forthcoming). The custody of the ballots will remain under the control of the Fulton County election officials, but the auditors will be permitted access to them. This could be significant as there are 145,000 specific Fulton County absentee ballots at issue.
[Side Note: a prior observer of the CCTV system noted that election workers were opening absentee ballots from Chinese origins (LINK)]
ABC News Story HERE – Atlanta Journal Constitution News Story Here
ATLANTA – Georgia is headed for another review of its presidential election results after a judge agreed to unseal more than 145,000 Fulton County absentee ballots Friday.
The details and timing of the review must still be determined. But the plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the county want to scan and examine the ballots to determine whether they are legitimate. At a hearing Friday, Henry County Superior Court Judge Brian Amero made clear the ballots must remain in the custody of Fulton election officials.
[…] Amero said he intends to order the absentee ballots to be scanned by county officials to produce high-resolution images. The plaintiffs want to examine those images as to determine whether they are fraudulent. For example, the high-resolution images could be used to determine whether ballots were filled out by hand or mass produced by a copy machine.
[…] Attorneys for Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger argued against unsealing the paper ballots in a court brief last month. They said the plaintiffs had no legal authority to independently verify and tabulate ballots. However, in a statement Friday, Raffensperger struck a different tone.
“From day one I have encouraged Georgians with concerns about the election in their counties to pursue those claims through legal avenues,” Raffensperger said. “Fulton County has a long-standing history of election mismanagement that has understandably weakened voters’ faith in its system. Allowing this audit provides another layer of transparency and citizen engagement.” (read more)
Similar to Baltimore Maryland, Atlanta Georgia is a hot-bed of corruption at almost every level of government. From the school system to local elected officials there have been widespread arrests over the years for corruption. It would be a surprise if election officials were not breaking the law in Fulton County…. it is, quite simply, how they operate.
BACKGROUND STORY for Context
More than three dozen educators were indicted in 2013. • 21 educators pled guilty before trial. • 12 Educators and Administrators went to trial and faced felony charges. • 11 of the 12 were found guilty!