Fulton County State Farm Arena in Georgia was a major focal point during the 2020 presidential election race’s vote-counting. Many people allege election fraud occurred at the site. On election night, the site dismissed poll workers from their posts earlier than usual; then, a small group continued to count ballots after most workers had left, raising red flags. Authorities never gave a clear-cut, satisfactory answer as to why these actions were taken.
“The election department sent the State Farm Arena absentee ballot counters home at 10:30 p.m. despite earlier intentions to complete processing Tuesday night (Nov. 3). Some additional numbers could still come out Tuesday night, but as of now, the staff will be back at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday,” an ABC News article stated at the time. It quotes Regina Waller, the Fulton County public affairs manager for elections.
However, the counting process continued after 10:30 p.m. Waller insists that this information was conveyed to all media and that a small group of workers had remained to help with scanning the ballots. However, most media outlets skipped this fact. Just The News recently acquired official internal emails through an open records request which sheds more light on what happened that night at State Farm Arena.
- In an email time-stamped 10:22 p.m. that was addressed to multiple officials at the site, Waller announced that Absentee Ballot Processing would restart operations at 8:00 a.m. the next day. She responded to a question of when the workers would return after getting dismissed for the night.
- Another email sent at 11:15 p.m. to Waller and other staff by Fulton County Interagency Affairs Manager Fran Phillips-Calhoun says that the Secretary of State’s office had indicated that work for the day is done.
Two affidavits submitted by ballot watchers that night also seem to confirm suspicious activity at the site. Georgia Republican Party Field Organizer Michelle Branton and Georgia Republican Party ballot watcher Mitchell Harrison stated in their testimonies that at 10:00 p.m., a woman asked everyone to stop working. She instructed them to come back the next day at 8:30 a.m.
Branton stated that almost all staff workers left the area. According to Harrison, four workers remained at the site. They both left after 10:30 p.m. and went to the Fulton County Board of Elections Warehouse, where they became aware that the counting was still going on.
Success
You are now signed up for our newsletter
Success
Check your email to complete sign up
Harrison and another worker returned to the State Farm Arena just before 1:00 a.m. but were told that the counting had ended a few minutes back.
Absentee ballots from the Nov. 3 presidential election unsealed
The emails come as Henry County Superior Court Judge Brian Amero recently stated that he is considering asking Fulton County to unseal absentee ballots from the Nov. 3 presidential election so that the material can be investigated by experts hired by Garland Favorito, an advocate of voting integrity.
The judge’s comments followed a lawsuit filed in a Fulton County Superior Court, which alleged that irregularities occurred during the vote-counting process at the State Farm Arena on the night of Nov. 3. Republican Kelly Loeffler’s voter integrity group Greater Georgia has welcomed Judge Amero’s decision.
“Georgia voters deserve to have confidence that their voice – and their vote – is heard. Unfortunately, the many irregularities we saw in the 2020 elections have eroded trust in our electoral process. We fully support the move to unseal and investigate absentee ballot process in Fulton County.”
“Transparency is the first step toward restoring integrity and accountability in our elections, and we look forward to the investigations’ findings,” Loeffler’s group said in a statement.
Follow us on Twitter or subscribe to our email list
