ATLANTA (AP) — Two months after the 2020 presidential election, a group of laptop consultants traveled to southern Georgia to repeat software program and knowledge from voting tools in an obvious violation of a county electoral system. They have been greeted outdoors by the chief of the native Republican Celebration, who was a part of then-President Donald Trump’s efforts to reverse his electoral defeat.
A safety digital camera outdoors the election workplace in rural Espresso County captured their arrival. The footage additionally exhibits some native election officers have been on the workplace throughout what the Georgia Secretary of State’s workplace described as “suspected unauthorized entry” to election supplies.
Safety footage from two weeks later raises extra alarms – exhibiting two individuals who have been instrumental in Trump’s broader efforts to undermine the election outcomes coming into the workplace and remaining there for hours.
Safety video from the workplace of elections within the county about 200 miles (320 kilometers) southeast of Atlanta presents perception into the size of Trump’s allies serving his fraudulent election claims. It additional exhibits how entry was allegedly facilitated by native officers tasked with defending election safety whereas elevating issues in regards to the launch of delicate voting expertise into the general public area.
Georgia wasn’t the one state the place voting tools was accessible after the 2020 presidential election. Necessary details about voting programs was additionally compromised at election workplaces in Pennsylvania, Michigan. and colorado. Election safety consultants concern info obtained – together with full copies of arduous drives – could possibly be exploited by those that need to intervene in future elections.
“The system is just as protected because the people who find themselves liable for conserving it protected,” stated legal professional David Cross, who’s representing the plaintiffs in a longstanding Georgia voting machine lawsuit.
The Espresso County safety footage was obtained via the lawsuit, which alleges Georgia’s touchscreen voting machines are susceptible to assault and must be changed with hand-marked paper ballots. The lawsuit is far earlier and isn’t associated to false allegations widespread voter fraud pushed by Trump and his allies after the 2020 election.
The alleged violation of the Espresso County Elections Workplace additionally caught the eye of Fulton County District Legal professional Fani Willis, who’s overseeing an investigation into whether or not Trump and his allies unlawfully tried to affect the election outcomes. of 2020 in Georgia.
Final month, Willis cited Espresso County exercise, amongst different issues, when she sought to compel testimony by Sidney Powell, a lawyer deeply concerned in Trump’s efforts to overturn the election outcomes.
Emails and different paperwork present Powell and different legal professionals linked to Trump helped arrange a group from knowledge options firm SullivanStrickler to journey to Espresso County, which Trump gained by almost 40 share factors.
The surveillance video, emails and different paperwork that make clear what occurred there in January 2021 have been produced in response to subpoenas issued in reference to the machine trial. vote and have been obtained by the Related Press. Elements of the safety video seem to contradict claims by some native officers:
– Footage captures Cathy Latham, then Espresso County Republican Celebration Chairwoman, arriving on the Elections Workplace shortly after 11:30 a.m. on Jan. 7, 2021, the day after the violent assault on the U.S. Capitol. Simply weeks earlier, she was one among 16 Georgia Republicans to signal a certificates falsely stating that Trump had gained the state and declaring that they have been the state’s “duly elected and certified” voters.
Minutes after arriving, she is seen outdoors greeting Sullivan Strickler COO Paul Maggio and two others. Lower than 10 minutes later, she escorts two different males into the constructing.
The video exhibits her leaving the election workplace simply earlier than 1:30 p.m., about two hours after greeting SullivanStrickler’s group. She returns slightly earlier than 4 p.m. then leaves round 6:15 p.m.
Latham stated beneath oath throughout a deposition in August that she stopped by the elections workplace that night for “just some minutes” and left earlier than 5 p.m. instructed that her schedule as a instructor wouldn’t have allowed it.
A lawyer for SullivanStrickler stated in an electronic mail connected to a courtroom submitting that Latham was a “major level of contact” to coordinate the corporate’s work and “was available” whereas that work was being finished.
Robert Cheeley, a lawyer for Latham, stated in an emailed assertion that his shopper couldn’t bear in mind all the small print of that day. However he stated she “wouldn’t and was not knowingly concerned in any irregularity in an election” and “didn’t act inappropriately or unlawfully”.
– The video additionally exhibits Eric Chaney, a member of the Espresso County election committee, arriving shortly earlier than 11 a.m. the identical day and going out and in a number of instances earlier than leaving for the night time round 7:40 p.m. Legal professionals for the plaintiffs within the voting machine lawsuit. wrote in a courtroom submitting {that a} photograph produced by Sullivan Strickler’s COO exhibits Chaney within the workplace whereas the copy is in progress.
Throughout a deposition final month, Chaney declined to reply many questions on that day, citing the Fifth Modification. However when an legal professional representing the county contacted him in April relating to questions from the Washington Publish, Chaney wrote, “I’m unaware and was not current on the workplace of the Espresso County Board of Elections and Registration when somebody illegally accessed the server. or the room through which it’s contained. Chaney resigned from the board of elections final month, days earlier than his deposition.
Makes an attempt to succeed in Chaney by cellphone have been unsuccessful, and his legal professional didn’t reply to an electronic mail looking for remark.
– About two weeks after the preliminary breach, video exhibits Misty Hampton – then the county chief electoral officer – arriving on the elections workplace at 4:20 p.m. on Jan. 18, when it was closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. She unlocked the door and let in two males – Doug Logan and Jeff Lenberg, who have been energetic in efforts to problem the 2020 election outcomes.
Logan based Cyber Ninjaswho participated in a partisan and in the end discredited evaluate of the 2020 election in Maricopa County, Arizona. The 2 males stayed inside till shortly after 8 p.m., then spent greater than 9 hours there the next day. Lenberg returned for transient visits not less than three extra days later that month.
Hampton resigned as election supervisor in February 2021 after election board officers stated she falsified her timesheets. Makes an attempt by the AP to succeed in her have been unsuccessful.
In a press release launched by his legal professional, SullivanStrickler stated the corporate had been retained by attorneys to forensically copy voting machines used within the 2020 election and had no purpose to imagine it will ask its staff to do something improper.
The Georgia Secretary of State’s workplace stated it launched an investigation in March and requested help from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation final month. State officers stated the system stays safe because of the a number of protections in place.
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