Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger admonished the decision of Fulton County election officials who fired two poll managers for “raising concerns” regarding the integrity of the November vote count in the state of Georgia.
At a news conference on Friday, Raffensperger said there has been “no credible evidence of widespread fraud” but stressed the decision to fire poll managers Bridget Thorne and Suzi Voyles does not sit comfortably with the “continued strength and vibrancy of our democracy.”
“I condemn in the strongest terms the decision by Fulton County elections officials to fire two poll managers purely for raising concerns about the November elections,” Raffensperger said. “Though we have found no credible evidence of widespread fraud, it is important that individuals can raise their voice when they believe they have seen wrongdoing. Retribution against whistleblowers poses a threat to the continued strength and vibrancy of our democracy.”
Thorne, a voting technician for Fulton County, claimed votes were not appropriately handled during vote counting at the State Farm Arena, where she worked.
“When they came in from the warehouse, they were haphazardly treated by anybody who wanted to dump the ballots out of the scanner tabulators,” Thorne said during an appearance on Fox & Friends last week. “There weren’t two people present. People were just dumping them in suitcases and then leaving the suitcases on the floor and taking a break for dinner or just quitting the job.”
Voyles alleged she saw a batch of hundreds of “pristine” ballots she believed had signs of being fraudulent.
Raffensperger’s comments come weeks before the January special runoff election that will decide the balance of power in the Senate. Doubt has been cast over the integrity of Georgia’s elections by some Republicans following the presidential election, which saw President-elect Joe Biden win the longtime Republican stronghold.
