Georgia Election Results
Date of Election Certification
November 20th, 2020
Why Should We Trust the Official Results?
Hand Audit: From November 11 through November 19, 2020, Georgia’s 159 counties conducted a hand audit of nearly 5 million ballots, and found no evidence of voter fraud. Source
Machine Recount: From November 24 through December 2, 2020, Georgia’s 159 counties conducted a machine recount of 5 million ballots and confirmed Biden’s victory. Source
Cobb County Signature Match Audit: From December 14 through December 29, 2020, Cobb County Georgia conducted a signature match audit of the 150,431 absentee ballots from the November general election and found no evidence of fraud. Source
Were bipartisan election observers allowed? Yes.
Under Georgia law, credentialed political party observers are permitted inside polling places and tabulating centers while votes are being recorded and counted. Source
Background on the Sham Review
Overview
Garland Favorito filed a lawsuit seeking to examine 147,000 ballots from the November election in Fulton County. A Henry County Judge agreed to unseal 147,000 ballots, but ordered the ballots to remain in the custody of Fulton County Election Officials.
Fulton County, the Fulton Board of Elections, and the County Clerk of Superior and Magistrate Court filed motions to dismiss claiming sovereign immunity. As a result Judge Amero dismissed most of the case alleging counterfeit ballots in Fulton, but left in place a previous order requiring the County to produce digital images of ballots and records. Amero allowed plaintiffs to add five Fulton Board of Education members as defendants, keeping the case alive. Source Source
Key Actors
Garland Favorito
Co-Founder of Voter GA and plaintiff in ballot inspection case.
Known conspiracy theorist who questioned the authenticity of 9/11 and pushed conspiracy theories about former President Bill Clinton and the assasination of John F. Kennedy. Source
Jovan Pulitzer
One of Favorito’s consultants who would conduct inspection of ballot images.
Failed treasure hunter and known conspiracy theorist who spread election fraud conspiracies during State Senate hearing in Georgia. His ballot inspection technology is also being used in the Arizona so-called “audit.” Source
Todd Harding
Attorney for Garland Favorito.
Harding is involved in several other frivolous lawsuits in Georgia alleging fraud in the November election and January runoffs. Source
Federal Election Protection & Security Concerns
There is not a lot of information on the procedures of the sham review as the court resolves other matters in the lawsuit. However, the judge did rule that ballots must remain in the custody of Fulton County election officials. Plaintiffs would only have access to ballot images. Source
State & Local Reactions
In response to news of sham review of Fulton ballots, Republican Lt. Governor Geoff Duncan said he was amazed that Republicans were still doubling down on election fraud as a winning strategy. Source
“At the end of the day, it's been 10 months now and I think I'm alarmed and I think most people are alarmed that we're still talking and still facing these issues of election disinformation...It really at the end of the day hurts the social fabric of our nation.” - Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger Source
Gabriel Sterling, a Georgia election official, said there is no evidence in support of the election fraud claims in Garland’s Favorito’s lawsuit and the lawsuit is a continuation of the Big Lie. Source
Funding Streams
Plaintiffs in the ballot inspection case will pay for the sham review. Source
Status & Timeline
Status: Not Complete
As of June 24, Judge Amero dismissed most of the Fulton County lawsuit, but has yet to rule on orders for Fulton County to produce ballot images (which are already publicly available) as well as ballot scans. Plaintiffs in the ballot inspection case added five Fulton County Board of Election members as defendants. Source