A pivotal hearing unfolded Wednesday before the Georgia State Election Board, granting Joe Rossi, co-author of a significant complaint, the chance to address a report previously presented by the Secretary of State’s office. Rossi and his colleague were initially denied the opportunity to respond to the report when it was first heard in May.
Rossi’s testimony revealed a startling escalation in the number of potentially duplicated ballots. What began as a claim of 3,125 duplicated ballots in December 2020 has now risen to 3,900, a figure reportedly uncovered by an ongoing Department of Justice investigation.
Rossi illustrated how these duplicated ballots were processed, suggesting a deliberate method that bypassed typical human error and made detection incredibly difficult. He described a systematic “shuffling” of ballots, raising serious questions about the integrity of the scanning process.
Beyond the duplicated machine count, Rossi uncovered evidence of widespread double and triple-counting during the Fulton County hand-recount on November 16, 2020. His findings identified 6,961 improperly counted ballots, a discovery later confirmed by a letter from Governor Brian Kemp’s office to the Secretary of State.
For months, Fulton County officials and the Secretary of State’s office consistently dismissed claims of discrepancies, emphasizing the alignment of three separate recounts. However, Rossi presented an internal email that challenges this narrative.
The email, sent just three days after the hand-count results were certified, was from Michael Prendergast of the Elections Group to two Fulton County election officials. It detailed “multiple errors” in the hand-count, mirroring Rossi’s findings and raising concerns about a deliberate cover-up.
Further internal communication revealed anxieties surrounding the initial machine count. Richard Barron, then-Elections Director, emailed a colleague expressing concern that the count was approximately 17,000 votes short of the expected total. Within 24 hours, over 16,000 votes were added to the official tally.
Documents presented to the SEB highlighted a specific instance: the November 19th email confirming knowledge of errors within Fulton County, even as the Secretary of State released the official results. The hand-count discrepancies, totaling 6,691 fictitious votes, were never corrected.
This revelation carries significant weight considering the ongoing racketeering case against President Trump and others for challenging the election results. The concealed inconsistencies in Fulton County cast a new light on those legal proceedings.
Fulton County wasn’t alone. Several other counties – Floyd, Douglas, Fayette, and Walton – exhibited discrepancies between the initial machine count and the subsequent hand-count. Notably, all four counties showed net increases in votes for President Trump.
The same voting systems used in the November election were also employed in the January 5, 2021 runoff election, which ultimately determined control of the Senate. The question now arises: could a remedy of the initial November count have averted the need for a runoff altogether?
Had Fulton County acknowledged its discrepancies, would those machines have been scrutinized and potentially deemed unfit for use in the crucial January runoff? The implications of these unanswered questions are profound and demand further investigation.
