Georgia’s Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, who first rose to prominence after he refused to re-calculate the vote total on behalf of then-President Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, has announced that there is an active investigation into ballot harvesting in Georgia, according to Justthenews.
Ballot harvesting is when third parties, often radicalized community organizers or party activists, collect ballots for voters and collectively drop them off at voting centers or ballot boxes. Conservatives contend that ballot harvesting makes voter fraud more likely.
BREAKING: Georgia officials confirm that they have launched an investigation into a ballot harvesting scheme during the 2020 presidential election.
The allegation is corroborated by video evidence and testimony from a witness who claims he was paid for ballots.
— Election Wizard (@ElectionWiz) January 4, 2022
“Under Georgia law, it is illegal for any third party to pick up and drop off ballots for voters, also known as ballot harvesting,” said TND. “According to reports, at least 242 people made over 5,000 ballot drop-offs during the Georgia Senate runoff elections.”
Raffensperger confirmed the investigation on a Just the News podcast with reporter John Solomon.
“We do have some information,” Raffensperger said. “And we are going to investigate that. We did deploy drop boxes that were under 24/7 surveillance, and because they were then that really, you know, can indicate who dropped that information off, and we’re really just going through that.”
Solomon subsequently asked if subpoenas for could be issued in the case.
“That will be one of the processes we’re looking,” said Raffensperger on the podcast, noting that often a subpoena is necessary to get people to talk with investigators.
One Georgia legislator is blaming the increase in ballot harvesting on the use of ballot drop boxes that were introduced because of the COVID pandemic. He proposes to ban the use of drop boxes.
“Drop boxes were introduced as an emergency measure during the pandemic, but many counties did not follow the security guidelines in place, such as the requirement for camera surveillance on every drop box,” said State Senator Butch Miller in a statement according to WGAU radio.
“Moving forward, we can return to a pre-pandemic normal of voting in person,” the Republican lawmaker said. “Removing drop boxes will help rebuild the trust that has been lost.”
