The Georgia State Election Board on Aug. 6 passed a new rule which will give county election boards the authority to examine election results, including this November's, before certifying them.
In a 3-2 ruling, the board voted to allow county officials in the state's increasingly polarized election boards to conduct a “reasonable inquiry” into election results before voting to certify.
"In other words, knowing what the heck they are certifying before they certify it," former Trump spokeswoman Liz Harrington noted in a social media post.
Harrington has been closely monitoring the deep-seated controversy that has raged in Georgia since its disputed elections in 2020 and early 2021.
Despite the efforts at reform, the Republican establishment in Georgia continues to insist that election integrity was not a consequential issue then and will not be in 2024 either.
News of the rule was downplayed by the Democrats' Atlanta Journal Constitution: 'Georgia election officials weigh voting rule changes feted by Trump.'
Fox 5 Atlanta offered Trump supporters more hope: 'Georgia State Election Board changes rules to allow counties more investigative powers.'
Ryan Germany, former general counsel for Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, participated in a zoom call with the board on Aug. and implied the rule was unnecessary.
"Then why did he take it upon himself to propose and lead a monitoring team" for Fulton County? Harrington wondered.
Harrington pointed to the 2020 results in Georgia, which she said included "17,852 votes counted with no ballot images, 20,713 original votes from tabulators out of thin air, and 3,930 duplicates counted and inserted via intentional human intervention."
Republican board member Janelle King, who voted for the rule along with GOP members Dr. Janice Johnston and Rick Jeffares, said that county board members should be allowed to review documents if they have outstanding questions.
“This is about protecting all voters,” King told CNN, which essentially accused King of working on behalf of GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump, who mentioned the three GOP board members at his Saturday rally in Atlanta. “I am making sure I am doing the right thing. I am appreciative of the president’s support, but I am not working on behalf of anyone.”
Board Chairman John Fervier, who was appointed earlier this year by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp said all board members should remain objective.
"They're on fire," Trump said during his speech at his rally in Atlanta over the weekend. "They’re doing a great job. Three members: Janice Johnston, Rick Jeffries and Janelle King. Three people are all pitbulls fighting for honesty, transparency, and victory."
Fervier crossed party lines to vote alongside Democrat Sara Tindall Ghazal in opposing the rule.Ahead of Tuesday's meeting, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who was the chairman of the state’s election board during the 2020 election, called the panel “a mess.”
“He’s a mess,” King said, reacting to Raffensperger’s comments which highlighted the shocking rift in the Georgia Republican Part on how votes were counted in 2020 and will be in 2024.
As for the "monitoring team", the board voted to table it until the next meeting, Harrington reported.
Dr. Johnson called the idea for the team "ill-considered" and suggested it was "cooked up" in Raffensperger's office. After Fervier objected, she used the term "formulated."
In other words, "it’s all a farce," Harrington concluded adding that the intent was to cover up in 2024 what was papered over in 2020.
Meanwhile, The Washington Times reported on Wednesday that "cyber researchers found a key vulnerability in Georgia’s new online portal that appeared to let anyone submit a voter cancellation for any state resident, forcing state officials to fix the issue."
The portal was designed to help the state clear its voter rolls when someone moves out of state or dies.
"Upon its July 29 debut, the portal allowed some users to see the last four digits of their Social Security number and the full driver’s license number of other people," Tom Howell Jr. wrote for the Washington Times.
That initial problem was fixed, but cybersecurity researcher Jason Parker alerted ProPublica and Atlanta News First about a new flaw over the weekend. The bug seemed to let users bypass a part of the portal that required users to submit a driver’s license number to support the cancellation request.
Some users tried to cancel the voter registrations for Raffensperger and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene through the new portal. They were unsuccessful.
Parker showed how to enter a person’s name, date of birth and county of residence — easily discoverable information about many people — on an initial screening page before right-clicking to show the browser’s HTML code.
Parker deleted code lines about the driver’s license number and hit submit, prompting a pop-up window that said: “Your cancellation request has been successfully submitted,” and that county election workers would process the request.
Parker told ProPublica it was a “terrible vulnerability to leave open.”
ProPublica and Atlanta News First both alerted the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office to the problem and held off on publication until it was fixed.
“Incomplete paper and online applications will not be accepted,” said Blake Evans, Georgia’s elections director. “We have updated the process to include an error message, letting the individual know their submission is incomplete and will not be processed.”
Chairman of the State Election Board John Fervier tried to stop this safeguard rule — allowing officials to look into discrepancies before certifying the election — before it was passed.
A D.C. attorney, a “Mr. Sus,” spent 30 minutes making bogus claims that it’s against the law… https://t.co/Y4JWnub1Jf pic.twitter.com/2GK4M6Bo7y — Liz Harrington (@realLizUSA) August 7, 2024
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