A memo obtained by Just the News’s John Solomon detailed the massive mishandling in the Atlanta area of the 2020 election, as pressure mounts to further scrutinize the voting in Georgia‘s largest county.
The 29-page, “unabridged” notes, submitted as a memo 10 days after the election by Seven Hills Strategies independent contractor Carter Jones, broke down the period from Nov. 2 through Nov. 7, often to the very minute that he observed “massive” election-integrity failures.
Among the things he witnessed in troubled Fulton County were “the double-counting of votes, insecure storage of ballots, possible violations of voter privacy, [and] the mysterious removal of election materials,” according to Just the News.
He outlined the “chaos” of Nov. 2 as sleepless election administrators scrambled to interpret the vague instructions from the office of Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and other officials.
At 11:12 p.m., for instance, Jones noted that a delay had been caused by someone walking off with the wrong suitcase full of poll pads intended for a College Park voting precinct, SC11.
Jones appeared to note that there was no apparent chain-of-custody documentation showing who had walked off with one of the Bethune Elementary School’s two bags of equipment.
“That means that a stranger just walked out with sensitive election materials?” he wrote.
Although the mistake was later rectified (with the suitcase and several others found on a loading dock with the seals still intact) it cost several hours of manpower.
As Monday gave way to Tuesday, Jones again noted the “disorganized” pile of materials and “personally began organizing the precincts in alphanumerical order so that delivery drivers could easily tell which was theirs in the wee hours of this morning.”
Four hours after leaving, Jones returned to the warehouse to monitor the Election Day efforts.
He noted the clash over a precinct manager who was refusing to wear her mask and the Happy Faces staffing firm, which had been contracted in coordination with Democrat activist Stacey Abrams, wanting “to ban her from working again” despite her many years of polling place experience.
At 4 p.m., he arrived at State Farm Arena, to begin monitoring the preparations for ballot-counting.
There, Jones reported jamming scanners and an overflow of ballots that could not all fit in the secure black boxes, requiring them to be moved 2,000 at a time in rolling bins from a storage facility at least seven blocks away, on Pryor Street.
“This seems like a massive chain of custody problem,” Jones noted. “It is my understanding is that the ballots are supposed to be moved in numbered, sealed boxes to protect them.”
He also noted the low motivation of government workers and that many were joking around until a Fulton County election official arrived to oversee the effort.
Meanwhile, tensions between the polling workers and GOP poll-watchers devolved into heated conflicts, and the atmosphere of deep distrust further added to the tumultuous process.
While Jones was at the relatively calm warehouse site, matters at the State Farm Arena spun further out of control. Around 10:30 p.m. it shut down its counting, claiming—according to many subsequent reports—a broken water line, which later was revealed to be an overflowing toilet.
Raffensperger then ripped the Fulton County effort while facing fire for the delays, with media reporting that he said the county “can’t get anything right.”
Afterward, Jones noted a “palpable” loss of morale in the warehouse, and that Fulton County Commission Chairman Rob Pitts was “pissed.”
An hour after the supposed shutdown at State Farm, Jones noted that there was “confusion about whether or not they’re still scanning at State Farm” because “there were reports that the staff there told the rest of the staff and press to leave, but I am still getting number reports.”
He arrived at to find all the scanners still going and two officials from the Secretary of State’s Office—general counsel Ryan Germany and Deputy Secretary Jordan Fuchs—overseeing the process.
Both were later exposed for their personal anti-Trump views.
At 12:08 a.m. on Nov. 4, Jones sent a timestamped photo showing that all the scanner’s were working, contrary to media reports.
He also noted that the Fulton official who had shut down the counting had “newly re–scanned some ballots that had already been processed.”
It is unclear if these were the suitcases of “stashed” ballots that were later
The process gets no better organized in the days that follow. Jones noted that the first thing he awoke to around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday was news of a possible drunken driving incident involving someone who was transporting ballots.
“Receive phone call that there was a single car accident involving a poll manager in Roswell last night and that there was an open container of alcohol in the vehicle,” he wrote.
“Some election materials are missing but the runners had already moved the CFs with the day’s voting information,” he added. “Still a big problem.”
He noted that a technician for Dominion Voting Systems took down all of the scanners as it began its “upload to flash drives for adjudication” in violation of best practices.
And he reported overhearing in an elevator two of the temp workers from Happy Faces saying they intended to “f*ck sh*t up.”
“I must keep an eye on these two,” Jones wrote. “Perhaps this was a bad joke, but it was very poorly timed in the presence of a poll watcher.”
He also questioned the vetting practices that the company used to ensure it did not hire anybody who actually might try to undermine the election integrity.
Although Raffensperger has since come under fire for his handling of the election procedures, he claimed that the damning report, which only now has gone public, underscored the fact that his office had taken the necessary precautions.
“It is no secret that Fulton has had issues in their elections department for decades,” he told Just the News, “which is why I insisted on a state monitor being present to be eyes and ears on the ground.”
However, a pro-Trump election-integrity advocate, Amistad Project head Phill Kline, cast doubt on that rosy portrayal.
“This reveals chaos caused by incompetence and in some instances willful violation of law in order to assist Mr. Biden,” Kline told the outlet. “This is consistent with the evidence we are finding in Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Michigan despite efforts at intimidation by Attorney General Garland.”
Amid reports over more chain-of-custody issues, resulting in an inability to account for roughly 25% of Fulton’s absentee ballots, Raffensperger announced this week that he would pursue a new investigation.
New revelations that Fulton County is unable to produce all ballot drop box transfer documents will be investigated thoroughly, as we have with other counties that failed to follow Georgia rules and regulations regarding drop boxes. This cannot continue.
— GA Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (@GaSecofState) June 14, 2021
