A Georgia judge is allowing officials to audit roughly 145,000 absentee ballots cast in Fulton County in the 2020 election, attempting to ensure the integrity and security of the state’s elections.
The audit will allow for the examination of signatures on the ballots to ensure that they are legitimate, according to a Georgia Star News report.
“Voter confidence in our election system is the bedrock of our republic. Unfortunately, inconsistencies in Fulton County’s November 2020 absentee ballots cast serious doubt on voters’ faith in our elections,” former Sen. Kelly Loeffler said in a statement.
Georgia residents have been particularly concerned about Fulton County.
Files provided by county officials show there are no chain of custody documents — absentee ballot transfer forms — for 385 out of the 1,591 dropbox collections that took place in Fulton County between September 24, 2020, and November 3, 2020, the Georgia Star News reports.
Meanwhile, Arizona’s Maricopa County is undergoing a complete forensic audit of the November 2020 election after the state’s Senate Republicans expressed their desire to ensure the legitimacy of the votes.
The audit in Arizona, however, has been met with relentless resistance. In early May, officials held back materials subpoenaed by the state legislature, claiming that submitting them would create a security risk for both law enforcement and federal agencies.
The Arizona state Senate claimed Maricopa County election officials then tampered with election records just days before the equipment was delivered to the Arizona Senate, the Georgia Star News reports.
Last week, the president of the Arizona State Senate asked the chairman of the Maricopa Board of Supervisors to address “three serious issues that have arisen in the course of the Senate’s ongoing audit of the returns of the November 3, 2020 general election in Maricopa County.”
The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors later refused the invitation to meet with the Arizona State Senate to discuss how to resolve the issues.
Unlike the audit in Arizona, however, the Fulton County ballots in Georgia will not be transferred to an independent third party for examination, as Superior Court Judge Brian Amero has ruled that the ballots must remain with Fulton County officials, according to a report by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The case is Favorito v. Coons, No. 2020CV343938 in the Superior Court of Fulton County, Georgia.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, on Parler at @alana, and on Instagram.