I work as an election official in Georgia. Let me start there.
You are exactly right - it is disgusting that NO ONE got anything worse than a reprimand in their file. THAT ALONE is criminal.
Please see my rant below.
The rules and procedures *AND* the electronic equipment used in an election are *NOT* hard to execute, and the equipment is really just iPads, large Android tablets, HP laser printers, and scanners with cash register-type printers.
You plug it in, turn it on, confirm or set date and time, and the stuff just works. (note well it takes a manager-only passcode and a separate physical key, kinda like missile keys to boot and/or shutdown/close) Been there and done that. Sure there might be a bad charger for an iPad or a missing cord for an Android, but ... It. Ain’t. Hard. If something weird happens you can call the County or the SoS office. And yes, they DO answer the calls.
Also keep in mind most of the workers are retirees - true senior citizens. Not 20 something tech wizards. VERY FEW of the staff are technically adept. I am, but I retired from a career in technology. The stuff and the processes has to be simple and straightforward.
In our county (Hall) we run a tight ship and STRICTLY follow all the rules and procedures, especially those for the ICPs (the scanners or tabulators).
At the beginning of election day you MUST check the zero on the tabulator and print the zero tape. A minimum of three people sign off on the tape.
When a ballot is scanned the image AND THE VOTE by line item DETAIL and TOTALS are loaded onto TWO solid state large format memory chips. (they’re big enough to look like laptop hard drives). Also EVERY paper ballot scanned goes into a big locked bin in the bottom of the scanner.
At the end of the day when the polls close we go through a process where the polls are officially closed on the ICP to shut down the tabulator for the election. NO data can be added at this point.
1. two identical sets of tapes (like a CVS receipt only FAR longer) are printed off the tabulator SHOWING THE VOTING RESULTS AND TOTALS BY LINE ITEM on that machine. One set of tapes is taped to the front (locked) door of the polls so it is visible to the public from the outside. The other matching printout is turned in with all our paperwork. So yes, within maybe 30 minutes of poll close we know quantitatively what ALL the results were at our precinct. So can the public. Candidates and candidates’ reps often visit EVERY poll location to see results and call them in to their own offices.
2. ONE of the memory chips is sealed up with all the tapes, ballots and records from the check-in iPads and the totals from the BMDs - the screen where you mark and print your ballot. The numbers from the check-ins, BMDs and the tabulators (total voters and votes) **MUST MATCH** or we cannot go home. [We conduct hourly audits to make sure we stay lined up and seldom have an issue end of day]
3. EVERY piece of equipment is turned off and a seal or seals attached and the numbers recorded. The equipment is loaded up, locked in SEALED cases and placed on special carts provided by the county and covered for transport - by us. ALL those seal numbers are recorded and turned in with all the other election data/paperwork.
3.5 ALL the paperwork is signed off on by the poll manager, asst mgr(s) and sometimes certain ‘leads.’ ALL signatories are held liable. We swear an oath to that, and are aware it’s a FELONY to falsify data.
4. The poll manager with an assistant manager(s) take all the records, the signed tapes (one copy), the memory card in a SINGLE vehicle DIRECTLY to the county election office. Their vehicle is tailed by a uniformed deputy in a marked vehicle.
At the County offices they log it all in. They upload the data from the memory chips and check it against the tapes. Again confirming a match. At this point the precinct results go to the web. 100% of precincts reporting mean that everyone has made it to the county office and their records were clean.
**DONE CORRECTLY** it’s really hard to cheat in a GA election.
Your hourly totals have to match your daily totals.
Your daily totals have to match your machine totals
Your machine totals have to match your paper tape totals.
The fact that Fulton County CANNOT or DID NOT produce the above to **ME** is straight up evidence the results from those precincts should NOT have been accepted by the GA SOS. Period.
**AND** the people responsible should have been prosecuted. Instead, they got reprimands in their files. THAT TOO is criminal.
Thanks for that report!
Unfortunately it has not been fixed. Ratburger is still SOS. Despite being hated he somehow managed to get 50% and avoided a runoff…somehow. As long as that treasonous prick counts the votes Ga is lost.
I do not see the name of the equipment manufacturer.
Also, the name of the distributor and service rep - if any - would be helpful.
If the GOP had a couple hundred totally dedicated election researchers (and lawyers) like you, the Political Right could actually make some quantifiable progress against Hard Left voter fraud.
Except as you pointed out, that’s what Fulton County did! Nothing available to match because nothing matches…..
I have done the public testing at our township with two machines. I’m the Republican and then we have a Democrat and we push through the ballots (100) and then run the tape and it should match. Then I take my 100 ballots and do the other machine, likewise the Dem. Tape ran for good ballots, errors, wrong precinct, etc. We tied.
So how did Republicans who worked the machines sign off on those bogus machines? Why did no one question the serial number use from our party?
In the Nov 2020 election, and in the Senate runoff afterwords, ONLY the bar coded symbol was printed on my paper ballot.
What that encypted symbol actually reported as a “vote” for any given office when it was scanned could not be verified. In Nov 2022 and in the 2024 primaries, at least a written list of candidates, Amendments and judges that were chosen was printed. (We still don’t know what wete scanned and counted, but some future check can at least “count the physical pieces of paper that have Trump ( or Kennedy’s) name printed.