A Georgia election observer detailed the Fulton County 2020 election as a sloppily handled voting process.
But Carter Jones, who was hired as an independent observer to watch the county’s election after a June primary plagued with issues, insisted he didn’t find evidence of fraud.
A report Jones wrote in November was obtained by Just the News and released to the public on Thursday in which he talked about observing several problems, including malfunctioning machines, multiple chains of custody issues, and insufficient training for workers.
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In one instance, Carter noted a saga about the lack of poll pads, voting technology used to check voters when they arrive at a polling place.
One precinct “had only one of two bags of poll pads arrive despite the fact that the system at the warehouse showed that both had been checked out of the warehouse and were on the way,” he said.
“Some bags have everything and others do not, but the full ones are not organized,” he added. “It is impossible to tell which bags are missing what without doing a manual count, and they don’t have the manpower for that at the moment.”
At one point, “someone took the wrong suitcase” of poll pads.
In one note, Jones wrote he was particularly concerned about the process exposed voters’ personal information.
“Are we compromising secret ballot with our ad hoc process?” he asked. “Sorters can see address on the Oath envelope as well as the ballot itself … Voters could theoretically face reprisal if a processor had the desire to [go] pursue them for their choice.”
Still, Jones told the Associated Press Wednesday he didn’t find “any dishonesty, fraud or intentional malfeasance” during his nearly 270 hours observing the process.
“They got it over the goal line. They made their numbers add up,” he said. “Yes, the vehicle was held together by duct tape and chewing gum, but it got over the goal line.”
“It is no secret that Fulton has had issues in their elections department for decades, which is why I insisted on a state monitor being present to be eyes and ears on the ground,” Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger told Just the News, noting he supports ousting the county’s top election officials.
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The Fulton County Commission has the power to fire the county’s election head but has not done so.
Raffensperger announced an investigation last week into whether Fulton County monitored absentee ballots returned in drop boxes for the 2020 presidential election, citing “new revelations.” There is also a lawsuit in which Superior Court Judge Brian Amero agreed to unseal 147,000 absentee ballots from the 2020 election in Fulton County for an audit. However, plans are on hold until the judge holds a hearing on a motion to dismiss the case filed by attorneys for Fulton County.
A hearing has been scheduled for June 21.
President Joe Biden Biden won Georgia by roughly 12,000 votes, a tally affirmed in multiple recounts and certified by the state. Despite criticisms by former President Donald Trump and his allies for not doing enough to crack down on alleged fraud in the state, Raffensperger’s office previously announced investigations into other counties besides Fulton, which includes much of Atlanta. The secretary of state opened investigations into Coffee, Grady, and Taylor counties after saying they “failed to do their absentee ballot transfer forms in violation of Georgia Rules and Regulations.”
“Fulton needs to address these mismanagement issues because they are becoming serious,” Jones added. “I mean, the eyes of the world are on the county, and, you know, they’ve got butterfingers.”
