Last month, a significant operation unfolded in Fulton County, Georgia. The FBI executed a search warrant at the county’s Election Hub and Operation Center, seeking a trove of election materials from the November 2020 election – physical ballots, ballot images, tabulator tapes, and voter rolls. The scale of the search was considerable, with approximately 656 boxes of records seized and transported to an undisclosed location.
The investigation’s origins trace back to a referral from Kurt Olsen, a Presidentially-appointed Director of Election Security and Integrity. The warrant itself, initially sealed, revealed a focus on five specific concerns regarding the 2020 election and the tabulation of votes. These weren’t simply questions of minor irregularities, but potential systemic deficiencies that demanded scrutiny.
One central issue revolved around missing ballot images. Fulton County’s tabulator machines are designed to create a digital scan of every ballot cast. However, the county admitted it lacked images for hundreds of thousands of ballots from both the original count and the subsequent recount – a critical loss of verifiable evidence. This absence immediately raised questions about the integrity of the process.
Further compounding the issue, evidence emerged suggesting ballots were scanned multiple times during the recount. Analysis of available ballot images revealed duplicated markings, indicating potential manipulation. This wasn’t theoretical; auditors during a Risk Limiting Audit had already reported inconsistencies between hand-counted totals and the machine counts, discrepancies confirmed by state investigators.
Witness testimony painted a troubling picture of irregularities. Auditors reported encountering absentee ballots that hadn’t been folded or creased – an impossibility for ballots legitimately mailed to and returned by voters. Furthermore, initial recount results reported by Fulton County were significantly lower than the original count, only to be revised upwards the following day, raising questions about the accuracy of the reporting.
A Georgia resident’s analysis of absentee ballot images uncovered a startling discrepancy: 17,852 missing images. This discovery, documented in complaint SEB 2023-025, fueled speculation that it directly prompted the FBI’s search. A member of the State Election Board (SEB) attempted to personally review the images, but was restricted to viewing them on a laptop with limited access – a single flash drive and a cryptic note hinting at miscounts.
The note itself was alarming. It revealed a discrepancy of over 17,000 missing ballot images, and more concerningly, indicated the absence of Secure Hash Validation (SHA) files. These SHA files are crucial; they guarantee the integrity of the ballot images, confirming they haven’t been altered. Adding to the concern, modification dates on the files extended well beyond the election timeframe, including one modified in January 2024.
Another data analyst, reviewing ballot images obtained through public records requests, identified duplicate ballots in both the original count and the recount. While acknowledging missing images – specifically those from computer-generated ballots – he concluded that the duplicates weren’t necessarily partisan, with a surprising 40% favoring Donald Trump. However, his assessment suggested the duplication was intended to reconcile recount numbers, not necessarily to alter the election outcome.
The investigation also focused on tabulator tapes – the printed records from each voting machine. These tapes, considered the “holy grail” for the final count, should precisely match the number of physical ballots. A cybersecurity expert reviewing these tapes found that closing tapes were missing from some machines, and that a single tabulator was used to close out 15 machines across 12 locations – a clear violation of Georgia election rules.
Further analysis revealed manipulated timestamps on the tabulator tapes, suggesting memory cards were removed from original machines and inserted into others to generate the closing reports. The protective counters on the machines, designed to track the total number of ballots scanned, also presented anomalies. Counters on multiple tapes were identical, and some reported ballot counts exceeded the counter’s capacity, implying the ballots weren’t actually scanned.
Witnesses described encountering “pristine” absentee ballots – lacking the folds expected from mailing and return – and reports of ballots with broken security seals being dismissed as unimportant. One poll manager recounted receiving a batch of 110 ballots, 107 of which had identical votes for every candidate, appearing “too clean” to be legitimate absentee ballots. Another witness claimed to have observed individuals printing ballots after all test ballots had been completed.
These findings, stemming from multiple witnesses and detailed analysis, paint a complex and concerning picture. The FBI’s search warrant, based on these allegations, represents a significant step in unraveling potential irregularities within Fulton County’s 2020 election process. The investigation continues, and the implications of these discoveries remain to be seen.
