Last week a Georgia judge agreed to allow plaintiffs to review Fulton County absentee ballots, the physical ballots, in a process yet determined (future order forthcoming). The custody of the ballots would  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.  [Background Here]

Previously an expert testified a difference of approximately 21% (of  “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.  Last week a judge agreed.

However, yesterday Fulton County officials asked a court to dismiss the underlying lawsuit because they do not want those absentee ballots to be inspected. [pdf filing HERE]

GEORGIA – […] The motion to dismiss, which was filed on Wednesday, argued Garland Favorito and the other plaintiffs never served the county and that the Superior Court of Fulton County lacks jurisdiction in the case. Attorneys also argued that Fulton County is not a proper party to the case.

“It is an improper party because it is not the final policymaker with control over elections,” the motion said. “The Elections Code states that where there is a board of elections, that entity acts as a superintendent and conducts elections and primaries.” (read more)

 

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