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By Editor Becky Watts
ATLANTA - Members of the Georgia Senate have been flooded with calls about the past election. There was a hearing at 10 a.m. with the Senate Government Oversight Committee and a 1 p.m. meeting with a Subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary. The Senate Government Oversight Committee met to “evaluate the election process to ensure the integrity of Georgia’s voting process.” A subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary met to “take testimony of elections improprieties and to evaluate the election process to ensure the integrity of Georgia’s voting system.”
Pike County Times will write more in depth on this tomorrow since hearings ran from 10 a.m. until almost 8 p.m. on Thursday. Senator Marty Harbin was involved in the 10 a.m. meeting. More than 9,400 people tuned into the first hearing online with 8,000 people tuning into the second hearing. Pike County Times watched by livestream as well.
Some of the highlights include the fact that there are about 230 investigations that are open at this time. It was noted in the early meeting that there are 300 instances of individual voters voting on through both absentee and election day. There are 70 instances of felons voting. The representative from the Secretary of State's (SOS) Office advised that they are looking into law enforcement investigations and not just allegations.
The biggest item from that meeting was when it was revealed that the toilet leak in the State Farm Arena occurred at 6:07 a.m. and was repaired by 8:07 a.m. Fulton County Commissioner Rob Pitts advised that no ballots or equipment were damaged and that ballots remained in the custody of the workers.
In the second meeting, Attorney Rudy Giuliani spoke was well as the lead counsel for the Trump Team in Georgia. It was noted that a petition was filed in Fulton County today regarding the November election. It was said in the meeting that it is impossible to certify the results and suggestions were made for either a new election or asking the state legislature to choose the allotted 16 electors to speak for the people rather than certifying the results of this election.
It was noted in this meeting that 2,506 felons had voted in the Georgia election as well as 66,248 teenagers who were allowed to register before they were 17 ½ years of age. It was also noted that a large number of voters were allowed to vote who had PO Boxes for their home address and that more than 4,000 were allowed to vote even though they had registered after the election deadline. More than 10,000 voters were deceased by the time of the election and 395 cast ballots in more than one state. 15,700 filed change of address to vote. 40,279 voted after moving across a county line but failed to register to vote in their new county.
There are more than 100 sworn affidavits to accompany the lawsuit. These affidavits—with many of the witnesses speaking to the Senate Subcommittee today—alleged irregularities and in some cases, outright fraud.
The bombshell that was dropped in the meeting came from an attorney named Jackie Pick who said that she was volunteering her time with this case. She revealed a video from the State Farm Arena that showed poll watchers, the media, and all but 4 workers being told to vacate the area at 10 p.m. and come back at 8:30 a.m. the next day. Video showed these 4 workers scanning ballots from cases stored under a table that had been brought into the room at 8 a.m. that morning under the direction of the same woman who advised everyone to leave at 10 p.m. that night.
Since there was 14 hours of video and the video had only been received last night, the attorney advised that no one had watched the entire video so the questions were asked where did these boxes come from and why were they counted while there were no observers in the room. According to the video, scanning went on for about 2 hours and was ended about 12:55 a.m.
No one on the Senate Committee had seen the video and it was advised that the media had not seen the video either. Committee members were advised that there had not been an opportunity to speak with Fulton County officials yet about the video either.
Ms. Pick advised that State Farm Arena receives subpoenas for videos all the time relating to fall cases, etc. A witness in the room on the night of the election advised that about 6,000 ballots could fit into a suitcase and that there were 3 scanners running in that room. Committee members asked if there was a way to track what happened on those scanners between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m. Some said yes and others said no, but committee members were all interested in what the video showed.
There were many witnesses who spoke to the Subcommittee.
Senate Government Oversight Committee Met - Updated 12.9.20
The Senate Government Oversight Committee met to “evaluate the election process to ensure the integrity of Georgia’s voting process.” This included concerns about law enforcement investigations and not just allegations. Concerns include out of state voters with absentee ballots. A spokesman for the Secretary of State (SOS) was present and answered questions from the committee.
The SOS representative, Ryan Germany, advised that the State of Georgia has had no excuse absentee ballot voting since 2005 and that COVID led to a massive increase in absentee ballots for this election. He did say that the SOS is looking into how other states verify absentee ballots and that they are investigating those who have moved out of state and voted.
There was a question of whether drop boxes were closed on time on the night of the election. Germany said that the indication is that this happened overall and that they have received video surveillance when they asked for it. He advised that there was an ongoing audit of the voting machines by an independent group.
Senate Majority Whip Steve Gooch, Republican from Dahlonega, said that voters have lost confidence in the election system and that we have got to establish trust in the election system. He emphasized that this issue isn’t going to go away.
It was said that there were about 230 investigations open. Germany denied that there was widespread fraud. He cited about 300 instances of voters who voted by absentee ballot and on election day and 70 instances of felons voting but said that there was nothing to suggest widespread fraud or switching of votes. It was noted later in the meeting however, that about 20,000 absentee ballots were mailed out of state from Fulton, Muscogee, and Dekalb Counties.
Senator Marty Harbin, Republican from our district, voiced his concerns about Spalding County’s problems on Election Day. He said that he was concerned about truth and giving people the truth about the process.
There was a discussion about whether the attorney for the Georgia Republican Party was involved in the consent agreement that involved the Democratic Party early in the year. The rep said that the GOP attorney was involved and that “We don’t believe that changed the law at all.”
The discussion then went to Fulton County that contains 10% of the total number of votes for the State of Georgia. Jessica Corbitt-Dominguez, Director of External Affairs for Fulton County, and Chairman of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners Rob Pitts was were present for the meeting as well.
Corbitt-Dominguez said that a citizen committee examined and made recommendations for the June 2020 election. Recommendations included increased polling locations, early voting locations, buying 2 mobile voting units, increased the number of poll workers, and adding State Farm Arena as an early voting location.
The leak was discussed at length. Pitts advised that there was a leak on the floor above at 6:07 a.m. and that it was repaired by 8:07 a.m. No ballots or equipment was damaged. Ballots remained in the custody of the workers, and the workers did not leave the room.
More than 9,000 people were watching the hearing online during the first hour of the event. Readers can watch this meeting in its entirety by clicking here.
After the meeting, Pike County Times asked the SOS Office for a statement regarding Fulton County from the SOS Office and received the following: "The Secretary of State’s Office was aware that Fulton County scanning had continued during the period captured in the video presented at the Senate hearing. This office dispatched an investigator and notified the independent monitor appointed by the State Election Board who both observed scanning until it was halted for the night around midnight. The independent monitor has overseen elections all over the world.
“We have launched an investigation into why the monitors from the political parties left before scanning ended. While it was their right to leave early, we want to make certain they were not misled into thinking scanning had stopped for the night when it had not. Nothing we have learned from the independent monitor or our investigation have suggested any improper ballots were scanned.”
Since the time of this meeting, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced that Gov. Brian Kemp had agreed to his request for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to assist in ongoing investigations related to the 2020 General Election. Click here to read more.
Nelly Miles, Public Affairs Director for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, sent the following statement to the press on Tuesday, December 8, 2020: "On Tuesday, December 8, 2020, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) met with officials from the Georgia Secretary of State’s (SOS) Office after receiving a request to assist them with investigations related to the 2020 General Election. The GBI’s role will be to assist in investigating specific cases identified by the SOS’s Office. GBI agents will conduct interviews and investigative acts regarding allegations of fraud as reported to the SOS’s Office.
Questionable election related activity should be directed to the SOS’s Office at sos.ga.gov/cgi-bin/emailelectionscomplaint.asp."
Pike County Times received the following from Senator Marty Harbin's Office this morning, December 9, 2020: "I am proud to join my colleagues in signing the petition for a special session of the Georgia General Assembly regarding the integrity of our election on November 3, 2020. As vice-chairman of the Senate Committee on Government Oversight I have the spent the past several weeks diligently working on the senate investigation into irregularities in the voting processes and possible illegal voting and our work continues. Furthermore, lawsuits in Georgia, Texas, and Pennsylvania are making their way to the Supreme Court. Also, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, at the behest of Governor Kemp, has taken control of over 250 active investigations into credible allegations of fraud. It is imperative that every legal vote be counted and that our elections are not manipulated by illegal votes either foreign or domestic. A special session of the Georgia General Assembly is an important step in ensuring election integrity, and I have urged my colleagues to join me in this.
Whether or not we can get the 3/5 number required for a special session remains to be seen, but we will continue our efforts to seek truth.
Many of the avenues of inquiry I have followed have been a result of constituents reaching out to my office. We have received thousands of emails and phone calls about the presidential election and are trying to respond as quickly as possible to each one while still doing the work of the committee. To any constituent that has yet to receive a reply, please rest assured that your voice is heard, and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
The most pressing issue at hand is to ensure the reelection of Senators Loeffler and Perdue. Not only will we be saving Georgia from the radical socialist agenda, but we will be saving America, as well.
My office number is (404) 656-0078 and you can email me personally at marty.harbin@senate.ga.gov.
Pike County Times will upload an article on the seven hours of Senate Judiciary hearings as soon as possible as well as providing any updates from the state.