A new report released this morning details how over 44,000 absentee ballots in Georgia’s Dekalb county were counted despite the state’s adoption of chain of custody standards last year:
GEORGIA STAR NEWS – 43,907 of the 61,731 absentee ballots deposited in drop boxes in the November 2020 presidential election in DeKalb County, Georgia–72 percent–were counted in official tallies certified by the county and the state, despite violating chain of custody requirements set forward in Georgia Emergency Rule 183-1-14-1.8-.14 promulgated by the Georgia State Election Board at its July 1, 2020, meeting.
That rule states absentee ballots placed in drop boxes, “shall be immediately transported to the county registrar” by the two person collection team, which is required to sign a ballot transfer form indicating the number of ballots picked up, the time the ballots were picked up, and the location of the drop box, and that, “The county registrar or a designee thereof shall sign the ballot transfer form upon receipt of the ballots from the collection team.”
The Georgia Star News obtained 725 absentee ballot drop box transfer forms used in the November 2020 election in DeKalb County to document the chain of custody of the 61,731 absentee ballots deposited in drop boxes from the DeKalb County law department in response to an open records request.
Of the 61,731 absentee ballots DeKalb County recorded as being deposited into drop boxes during the November 2020 election, 46 percent – or 28,194 of the absentee ballots – were not documented as being received by the elections registrar or the director’s designee until the day after they were collected from the drop box.
The range in which absentee ballots were collected from drop boxes in DeKalb County and documented as received by the registrar the next day was between 13 and 22 hours, or nearly a full day later.
For another 26 percent, representing 15,713 absentee ballots collected from drop boxes during the November 2020 election, there was no receipt time recorded at all by the elections office, as is required by the July 2020 emergency election code rule.
All told, 43,907 absentee ballots deposited in drop boxes in DeKalb County (28,194 absentee ballots whose chain of custody was accounted for on ballot transfer forms that were signed as received by the registrar’s designee one day after election workers removed them from drop boxes plus 15,713 absentee ballots whose chain of custody was accounted for on ballot transfer forms for with there was no registrar’s designee signature for time or date of receipt) were counted in the certified results of the November 3, 2020 election despite being delivered to the registrar’s office in clear violation of the chain of custody documentation of the Georgia State Election Board’s July 2020 rule.
On November 20, 2020, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, certified Joe Biden as the winner of the state’s 16 electoral college votes over former President Donald Trump by a margin of 11,779 votes out of 5 million cast in the November 3, 2020 election.
News that in DeKalb County – just one of the state’s 159 counties – the number of absentee ballots deposited in drop boxes in the November 2020 election that were in violation of the state’s emergency rule for chain of custody documentation exceeds by more than three times Biden’s certified margin of statewide victory (43,907 votes compared to 11,779 votes) calls into question the legitimacy of that November 20, 2020 statewide certification by Secretary of State Raffensperger.
The rigorous restrictions governing chain of custody are, ostensibly, in place to ensure that ballots are always counted by election officials. When ballots are taken from drop boxes and not accounted until the next day, you have no idea what happened to them between the time they were taken out of the drop boxes and the time the registrar signed for them.
Even more concerning are the 15,713 that have no registrar signature indicating the time or date they were received. Where did the mail-in ballots even come from? If officials can’t account for these mail-in ballots at every state of the tabulation process, then how can they be trusted?
Trump responded to this article today, sharing it far and wide, saying “Georgia has been caught. What are Kemp and Raffensperger going to do about it? Or will they sweep it under the table like they have done everything else trying to claim they had an honest election with everybody laughing as they speak.”
NEW!
President Donald J. Trump:
“Georgia has been caught. What are Kemp and Raffensperger going to do about it? Or will they sweep it under the table like they have done everything else trying to claim they had an honest election with everybody laughing as they speak.” pic.twitter.com/lbqS4rnrH3
— Liz Harrington (@realLizUSA) August 30, 2021
