{"id":67829,"date":"2021-06-03T15:38:20","date_gmt":"2021-06-03T19:38:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=67829"},"modified":"2021-06-03T15:38:38","modified_gmt":"2021-06-03T19:38:38","slug":"georgia-sure-act-like-they-have-something-to-hide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/?p=67829","title":{"rendered":"Georgia Sure Act Like They Have Something to Hide"},"content":{"rendered":"

Election Officials in Fulton County, Georgia Sure Act Like They Have Something to Hide<\/h1>\n

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AP Photo\/John Bazemore<\/p><\/div>\n

By Shipwreckedcrew
\nRedState<\/p>\n

Last week, I reported<\/a> on the developments in post-election litigation underway in Fulton County, Georgia, in which plaintiffs had obtained an order from a Georgia State Court judge giving them the authorization to inspect copies of 145,000 mailed-in absentee ballots from the November 2020 election.<\/p>\n

Judge Amero has ordered that high-resolution copies be made of the 145,000 absentee ballots, while the originals will remain in the custody of election officials. But the copies should allow the plaintiffs to look for certain kinds of possible irregularities such as whether any ballots were machine marked and then copied in large numbers. Mailed-in absentee ballots should all be hand-marked by the voter.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The lawsuits are being opposed by officials of Fulton County, but Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger \u2014 who professed over and over again that the outcome of the Georgia Presidential election was was free of fraud \u2014 applauded Judge Amero\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Raffensperger cited \u201ca longstanding history of election mismanagement\u201d in Fulton County.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom day one I have encouraged Georgians with legitimate concerns about the election in their counties to pursue those claims through legal avenues,\u201d Raffensperger\u00a0said<\/a>. \u201cFulton County has a longstanding history of election mismanagement that has understandably weakened voters\u2019 faith in its system<\/strong>. Allowing this audit provides another layer of transparency and citizen engagement.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A little more than a week has now passed since Judge Amero\u2019s order, and some disconcerting events have transpired during that time.<\/p>\n

Judge Amero\u2019s order specified that the plaintiffs would be allowed to inspect high-resolution copies of the 145,000 ballots, but that the original ballots would remain in a secured county facility.\u00a0 The details of the copying and inspection were to be worked out between the parties and the court.\u00a0 In granting the motion to inspect the ballots, Judge Amero noted that no party had asked that the complaint be dismissed.<\/p>\n

But after Judge Amero\u2019s Order, on May 26 Fulton County filed a\u00a0motion to dismiss<\/a>\u00a0the complaint.\u00a0 In addition to claiming that Fulton County itself should not be subject to the complaint since the elections were run by the County Board of Elections, Fulton County also alleged the plaintiffs failed to comply with the statutory requirements for filing an \u201celection contest,\u201d and on that basis, the complaint should be dismissed.<\/p>\n

Judge Amero had scheduled a meeting at the ballot storage warehouse to take place on May 27. In response to the motions filed on May 26, Judge Amero postponed the meeting.\u00a0 He stated that the motions must be resolved prior to the court granting access and inspection to the ballots.<\/p>\n

That is where the court proceedings stood as of last Friday.\u00a0 But that isn\u2019t all that happened.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, May 29, at approximately 4:30, an alarm went off at the warehouse facility where the original ballots are stored in a locked room\u00a0 Security responded \u2014 more on that below \u2014 and found the warehouse door unlocked and open.\u00a0 The storage location is at 1365 English Street, in Atlanta, which is the address for the \u201cFulton County Election Preparation Center.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the website CreativeDestructionMedia.com, it\u00a0conducted an interview<\/a>\u00a0with the attorney for the plaintiffs, Robert Cheeley regarding the events leading up to the alarm on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Back on May 21, not confident in the security provided by Fulton County, Cheeley had arranged for off-duty police to sit in police vehicles and watch over the storage location.\u00a0 Cheeley claims Fulton County attorneys complained to Judge Amero that the off-duty police officers were \u201cintimidating\u201d Fulton County Election Board workers because they were parked in the parking lot of the county building.\u00a0 He claimed the Fulton County officials told the judge they might arrest the off-duty officers for \u201ctrespassing\u201d.<\/p>\n

To end the petty squabble, Judge Amero asked Cheeley to have his off-duty security park on the public street in front of the facility and not park in the parking lot.<\/p>\n

Starting on May 25, Fulton County began to have two on-duty Fulton County Sheriff\u2019s Deputies provide security for the storage location pursuant to Judge Amero\u2019s order that they provide 24\/7 security of the ballots until they were copied and inspected.<\/p>\n

But on Saturday, May 29, both vehicles left the parking lot at 4:00 p.m. and were gone for two hours.\u00a0 At 4:30, the alarm went off.<\/p>\n

The alarm was noticed by the off-duty private security sitting in their car on the street.\u00a0 They went to investigate and found the door unlocked and open.<\/p>\n

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