Fulton County used improper procedures in 2020 recount: investigation

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - The Georgia secretary of state’s office has determined Fulton County used improper procedures during its 2020 presidential election recount.

During a Georgia state elections board meeting on Tuesday, Charlene McGowan, general counsel for the secretary of state’s office, said, “The conclusion of this investigation ... is that Fulton County used improper procedures during the recount of the presidential contest in 2020.”

McGowan stressed the investigation’s outcome doesn’t change the election’s overall outcome, an election that saw Joe Biden become the first Democrat since 1992 to carry any deep Southern state on his way to ousting his Oval Office predecessor, Donald Trump.

“This investigation confirmed what we already knew,” McGowan said. “There is nothing we have learned that is new from this investigation.”

The secretary of state’s office launched its investigation after a July 8, 2022, complaint was filed alleging vote count irregularities involving 17,852 ballots. McGowan said the investigation uncovered some duplicative ballot images that Fulton County provided, suggesting some ballots may have been scanned more than once.

The state elections board is sending a letter of reprimand to the county and also ordered a monitor to oversee this year’s critical 2024 presidential election.

“Fulton County’s performance during the 2020 elections has been exhaustively scrutinized but the results, confirmed by three different counts, have not changed,” said Fulton County spokesperson Jessica Corbitt. “Nor has there been any evidence of fraud or malfeasance. As in previous reviews, most of the claims in this complaint were found to be unsubstantiated, and, again, the results are not in question.

“Since the 2020 election, Fulton County has hired a new director, implemented numerous procedural updates and invested in a new elections headquarters,” Corbitt said. “It has conducted six elections and independent monitors have noted improvement. Fulton County looks forward to putting these cases about 2020 in the past and focusing on the upcoming elections.”

In August 2023, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis indicted Trump and 17 others on charges of engaging in a criminal, racketeering-like attempt to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election.

Trump and the remaining co-defendants (four have reached plea deals with Willis’ office) are formally appealing a judge’s ruling allowing Willis to remain on the case.

Georgia is a key focus in the 2024 presidential election for a rematch between Biden and Trump.

Both Biden and Trump are the respective, presumptive Democratic and GOP nominees for president, setting the stage for an historic rematch of their 2020 campaigns. They have been polling well within the margins of error for every poll thus far in the election season, making the Peach State a virtual toss-up.

In 2020, Biden won Georgia by less than 12,000 votes.

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