Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has opened an investigation into Fulton County over issues with ballot drop documentation related to the 2020 election.
The story: Raffensperger announced the probe on Monday, citing “[n]ew revelations that Fulton County is unable to produce all ballot drop box transfer documents.” He noted that the state has faced similar issues in other counties “that failed to follow Georgia rules and regulations regarding drop boxes.”
“Restoring confidence in our elections is going to be impossible as long as Fulton County’s elections leadership continues to fail the voters of Fulton County and the voters of Georgia. They need new leadership to step up and take charge,” Raffensperger wrote.
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
The Georgia Secretary of State did not refer to the sources of the cited “new revelations” but the announcement of the investigation follows a report from the Georgia Star News which said that an analysis of the drop box ballot transfer forms for absentee ballots in the county found that 385 transfer forms are missing.
Raffensperger’s office said that the investigation is trying to determine whether there were violations of state rules “requiring absentee ballot drop box transfer forms to be filled out.”
A source familiar with the probe told CNN that it “does not have any implications about fraudulent or missing ballots in Fulton any more than it meant that in the other smaller, more conservative counties.”
“To be clear, we’re investigating a rule violation” in Fulton County,” the unnamed source reportedly said.
What they’re saying: Fulton spokeswoman Jessica Corbitt-Dominguez told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the county “followed procedures for the collection of absentee ballots from Fulton County drop boxes.”
“We maintain a large quantity of documents and (are) researching our files from last year to produce the ballot transfer forms,” Corbitt-Dominguez added.
