Georgia Vote-Counting Video Shows Ballot Boxes Followed Proper Chain of Custody

Yahoo News ^ | November 13, 2020 | Frank Chung

[The_Media_never_lie]

Security footage of Georgia poll workers lugging boxes of ballots out from under a table and scanning them after political party poll watchers had gone home for the night sparked controversy last week when the Trump campaign cited it as evidence of voter fraud, but upon further review the ballots appear to have remained in the proper chain of custody over the course of Election Day.

The Trump campaign showed a portion of the election night surveillance video from Atlanta’s State Farm Arena during a Georgia State Senate hearing on Thursday, claiming the footage shows poll workers shooing election observers out of the arena before proceeding to scan boxes of mysterious and possibly illegal ballots.

[The_Media_never_lie]

I hear you. I certainly do not know who to believe. I would think that if the poll watchers were told to go home due to the water leak, and counted continued, this would have been the evidence of fraud.

[tsomer]

...please tell me what is true.

I don't think Qi Lin is the person you should direct that question to.

[FlingWingFlyer]

Frankie Chung. Must be true.

[MrRelevant]

There are still thousands of votes in Georgia for which they cannot prove chain of custody or where protocols for the chain of custody were not followed. There is nothing that will refute what the ballot harvesters did.

[Mr. K]

Sure they did...

[The Duke]

So, the pro-crime political party wouldn’t steal an election?

[The_Media_never_lie]

Yes, according to True the Vote there is video evidence of ballot harvesting from 2 - 5 am in the morning. Same cars, multiple ballots seen. Not legal. Stay tuned.

[Qilin]

> Being hidden under a table should by itself broken the chain of custody.

They were not “hidden” under tables. The processed (i.e. removed from envelopes) but uncounted ballots were placed in the crates, security sealed, and then placed under the tables all in the presence of media, state monitors, and poll watchers. You can see this in the video. Despite the very misleading testimony of Guiliani, et. al. to GA state legislators, this seems like fairly standard operations.

> Being counted without poll watchers is another violation.

GA election law states that polls watchers “shall be allowed to observe”, but it doesn’t require them to be present. From the video it appears that they left of their own volition — nobody forced them to leave or (from what I can tell) even directly asked them to leave. Media (and presumably poll watchers) in other parts of State Farm knew that counting had resumed in that room. We know this because the two Republican poll watchers said that they were informed of this by members of the media still at State Farm.

[DoughtyOne]

You and me both.

The person who coined this was pretty astute.

“Common sense is very uncommon.”

These days there seems to be 60.00% of the populace who can’t
think their way out of a seat belt.

[The_Media_never_lie]

What if the same car shows up at several drop boxes...hmmmmh.

[Republican Wildcat]

But what about was *in* the boxes? Zero way of knowing where all they had been or for sure where they came from.

[Qilin]

>　And the table had a curtain around it. I can see covering the machines when no one is around.

Just about every table in that room had a "curtain" around it. You can verify this for yourself by watching the video here.

[Qilin]

> You say you did not see evidence of the watchers getting kicked out. However, there were affidavits signed stating they were told to leave due to a water leak and no counting would be done in their absence. Now, please tell me what is true.

How do you know there were signed affidavits stating this? Are you taking someone’s word on this? Have they been entered as evidence in a court of law? If not, then they are worth no more than the paper they are printed on. I’m willing to bet that any signed affidavits that have actually been entered as evidence in a court of law by Giuliani and his associates were a good deal more circumspect than the claims they were making in their press conferences and in the shows they put on in front of GA state legislators in Dec 2020.

[Qilin]

> What I need to ask you is, why are there only 4 people on the video counting ballots, and no one visibly watching the vote counters.

There were five people there: Ruby Freeman, Wandrea Moss (Ruby's daughter), Ralph Jones -- the Fulton Co. registration chief, and two other workers whose names I don't know. There is also the state election monitor who returns to the room around at 11:50pm (note that the Republican observers left the room at 10:45pm.) As for why this happened, Richard Barron, Fulton Co. elections director at the time said that he called Ralph Jones (the man in the jacket and red shirt) and told him that they needed to keep counting (by this time Ruby Freeman and perhaps some of the others had already been there for 18 hours, so they were probably more than ready to go home.) You can see Ralph Jones receive the call from Richard Barron at 10:58pm, and then make an announcement to the people in the room. Shortly after this they start taking the ballot crates that had previously been sealed and placed under the tables (between 10 to 10:30pm or so while media and poll watchers were present) in order to count them. So it appears that they thought they were going home after a *very* long day, but Richard Barron called and told them to keep counting.

The Republican poll watchers were not forced to leave. The doors to that room were not locked. People in other parts of State Farm arena knew that counting had continued in that room (perhaps because the counting was taking place in front of a huge window and anyone walking/driving by could see ongoing activity in that room.) Was the situation irregular and sloppy? Sure. That's why they had a full hand count which confirmed the original machine count.

If you'd like to watch the security cam video that the State of Georgia made available you can find it here.

[Qilin]

Here's a picture of the State Farm Arena at night:



The room where the absentee ballots were being counted is on the 2nd floor towards left side of the image -- the one with the two dark triangles near the top on either side. Also note that the ballot counting machines were located directly next to the large window on the adjacent side facing the small park with the line of (Italian cypress?) trees. At night anyone driving or walking around in that area would have been able to see that people were still in the room and that there was ongoing activity. Now ask yourself, does it seem likely these people would have attempted election fraud, a very serious federal crime, while in pretty much plain view? To me, it seems highly implausible.

[marktwain]

From the video it appears that they left of their own volition — nobody forced them to leave or (from what I can tell) even directly asked them to leave.

What "appears" from the video can be very misleading. If they were told counting was over, that is fraud.

It is illegal to use either force or fraud.

I clearly recall the national media reports that counting was stopped because of a "broken water main", which turned out to be a leaky urinal or toilet.

At the time, when the "broken water main" was reported, I thought: This is not good.

You cannot have a credible election when, in the most corrupt part of Georgia, poll watchers are told the counting is over, then, after they leave (and you see, in the video, one of the people at the poll check that they are gone) counting resumes.

Saying "they could have learned counting was going on, and returned" is using a hypothetical to deceive.

[Qilin]

> What “appears” from the video can be very misleading. If they were told counting was over, that is fraud.

Not really. Fraud requires malicious intent, and I don’t see that. I see negligence, perhaps. But throwing out tens of thousands of legitimate votes due to negligence on the part of election workers is not a reasonable remedy — no court would accept that. A full recount would be a reasonable remedy, and that is what was done.

[marktwain]

As you seem to have detailed knowledge of the events, please give a detailed explanation of the “broken water main” story, which was so convenient, widely reported, and false.

[Qilin]

> ...after they leave (and you see, in the video, one of the people at the poll check that they are gone) counting resumes.

I see you got hoodwinked by Giuliani and Tracy Pick and the circus act they put on in front of the GA state legislators. They did a pretty good job of showing images and snippets of video to mislead people. Actually, the Republican poll watchers left at 10:45pm. It wasn't until 10:58pm that Ralph Jones received a phone call from Richard Barron telling him that they needed to continue counting. He speaks with Barron for a few minutes (during this time it appears that Ruby Freeman and her daughter are packing up their stuff and getting ready to go home), and then Jones makes announcement to the election workers in the room at 11:02pm. It is only at this point that Wandrea Moss (Ruby's daughter) pulls out the first crate of ballots. This is 17-18 minutes after the Republican poll watchers left. You can verify this for yourself by watching the video (I seem to be saying that a lot.) So this impression on your part that the election workers were waiting for the coast to be clear so they could resume counting incorrect. I know exactly why you think this; I know the part of Tracy Pick's presentation that have given you this impression. But you have been misled in this (and just possibly other things as well.)

[The_Media_never_lie]

Are you seriously saying because the room had windows and there are election laws, no one would attempt election fraud there? Were I in charge of the operation, I would want both partisans present in the room, when counting votes.