In a rare act for a state chief executive, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has referred the audited November 2020 election results in the state’s largest voting metropolis to the State Election Board after multiple reviews found significant problems with absentee ballot counting that included duplicate tallies, math errors and transposed data.
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11 Months After 2020 Election Georgia Secretary of State Missing Chain of Custody Documents for 6,995 Absentee Ballots Deposited in Fulton County Drop Boxes
A review of transfer forms provided to The Georgia Star News in response to an open records request reveals that the Secretary of State’s office in Georgia is missing chain of custody documents for 6,995 absentee ballots deposited in drop boxes in Fulton County during the November 2020 election.
The number of absentee ballots for which the office has no evidence of the origination of the ballots represents 9 percent of the 79,460 total that Fulton County has recorded as being deposited into drop boxes during the more than month-long early voting and election day period.
Read MoreDonald Trump Calls Georgia ‘a Central Battleground’ to Rescue Nation During Rally in Perry
Former U.S. President Donald Trump held a rally Saturday in Perry, where he introduced the candidates he wants Georgia voters to help elect in the 2022 elections. “One year from now Georgia will be a central battleground in our fight to rescue our beloved nation,” Trump told the audience.
Read MoreFormer President Trump Sends Letter to Georgia Secretary of State Raffensperger Asking to Investigate Report of DeKalb County Chain of Custody Violations; ‘If True Start the Process of Decertifying’
Former President Donald Trump sent a letter on Friday to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, asking the top election official to investigate potential threats to the state’s election integrity.
In the letter to Raffensperger, Trump cited a report from The Georgia Star News, which detailed that 43,000 absentee ballot votes counted in DeKalb County, Georgia 2020 election potentially violated chain of custody rule.
Read MoreFDA Fully Approves Pfizer’s COVID Vaccine
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave full approval Monday to the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, a major step that will likely have significant implications for vaccination mandates nationwide. The Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines have not yet received full FDA authorization.
The Pfizer vaccine previously received FDA authorization, which allowed its emergency use but did not give the full approval. Pfizer is the first company to receive full approval in the U.S.
Read MoreMusic Spotlight: Sadie Campbell
Written and produced during the COVID pandemic, Sadie Campbell’s ‘Darkroom’ addresses mental health issues in an elegant, yet haunting way. EP is out on August 27th. Listen to the single “Fade” now.
Read MoreExclusive: Erik Prince Blames Afghanistan Debacle on ‘Cosplay National Security Apparatus’ that Believes ‘Their Own BS’
The Founder of the Blackwater private security firm and the author of a comprehensive plan to save Afghanistan by shifting the country’s security to private contractors and away from the American military told the Star News Network he warned U.S. diplomats the government of President Ashraf Ghani would fall before Labor Day.
“I told a number of ambassadors in the region there; they should expect a collapse of Kabul by Labor Day, and I said that back in April, based on when the U.S. air pressure, when the Air Force really stopped bombing, when that threat largely disappears, then the Taliban would be able to group and mass as they have done, and then they start blowing up cities,” said Erik Prince, the Navy SEAL veteran and national security entrepreneur.
Read MoreFormer President Trump Endorses Governor Bill Lee in Reelection Campaign
Former President Donald Trump in a statement on Friday endorsed Governor Bill Lee (R-TN) in his campaign to seek a second term as Tennessee’s governor.
In the brief statement, Trump pointed out Lee’s record on a host of key issues, including support for law enforcement and border security.
Read MoreGeorgia Ballots Rejected by Machines Were Later Altered by Election Workers to Count
A day after the November election, as Donald Trump and other Republican candidates clung to evaporating leads in Georgia, vote counters in Atlanta were confronted by a paper ballot known only by its anonymizing number 5150-232-18.
A Dominion Voting machine had rejected the ballot on election night because the voter had filled in boxes for both Trump and his Democratic opponent Joe Biden, an error known as an “overvote.” The machine determined neither candidate should get a tally, and the ballot was referred for human review.
Read MoreSee Disputed Georgia Ballots Where Election Workers Decided a Vote Was for Biden, not Trump
As part of a review of hundreds of pages of election documents from Georgia’s Fulton County, Just the News reviewed dozens of disputed ballots in which election workers known as “adjudicators” determined that a voter intended to vote for Democratic candidate Joe Biden instead of Republican incumbent Donald Trump.
Just the News’s review of the Fulton documents revealed a system rife with subjective judgment of thousands of ballots on the part of a small number of election workers, all of it governed by a confusing patchwork of state laws that simultaneously seemed to sanction and proscribe the practice of ballot adjudication.
Read MoreLawsuit to Inspect Fulton County Mail-In Ballots Amended to Include New Evidence Hand Recount Audit ‘Was Riddled with Massive Errors and Provable Fraud’
Petitioners in a lawsuit to inspect Fulton County mail-in absentee ballots from the November 3, 2020, election have added new claims and provided new evidence that the hand recount audit was riddled wth massive errors and provable fraud.
VoterGA, organizers of the lawsuit, made the stunning announcement on Tuesday that revealed “a whopping 60%” error rate in Fulton County’s hand count audit held on November 14 and 15, 2020.
Read MoreFederal Judge Denies Injunction Request to Stop Georgia’s Voter Integrity Law
A U.S. District Judge on Wednesday denied one group’s request that he issue a preliminary injunction against certain sections of Georgia’s new voter integrity law, Senate Bill 202. The Coalition for Good Governance requested the injunction for the July 13 runoff election for Georgia State House District 34.
Read MoreGeorgia Public Broadcasting Reveals Secretary of State Raffensperger Delivered Some Fulton County Absentee Ballot Chain of Custody Documents to Them in April
An interview between The Georgia Star News and Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB) News revealed that they had received Fulton County’s drop box absentee ballot transfer forms from the Secretary of State’s office in April. GPB News, however, did not report on their findings until after The Star News report in June.
Stephen Fowler of Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB) News requested an interview with John Fredericks, which also included Laura Baigert, of The Georgia Star News, as part of his fact-check for a story and to get comments from everyone involved.
Read MoreGeorgia Voters’ Rights on the Docket as Judge Grapples with Fulton County Election Controversy: No Decision Yet
McDONOUGH, GEORGIA — The lawsuit alleging voting shenanigans in Fulton County during last year’s presidential election continued Monday as Chief Judge Brian Amero heard opposing attorneys spar over voters’ rights and who to hold accountable for violating those rights. Amero presides over the case out of Henry County.
Read MoreTweet by Georgia Public Broadcasting Writer Reveals More Chain of Custody Document Discrepancies in Fulton County Absentee Ballot Transfer Forms
A tweet by Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB) News writer Stephen Fowler on Saturday revealed more chain of custody document discrepancies in Fulton County’s absentee ballot drop box transfer forms.
The tweet included a partial image – the very top only — of two transfer forms Fowler claims were part of an open records response GPB News received on Wednesday from Fulton County election officials.
Read MoreGeorgia Public Broadcasting Reports Receiving Transfer Forms from Fulton County Not Provided to The Georgia Star News
Georgia Public Broadcasting News, part of the taxpayer-funded network of state PBS television stations and NPR radio stations, reported Wednesday, June 16, 2021, that they received from Fulton County all but eight of the 385 missing absentee ballot drop box transfer forms The Georgia Star News has reported on.
After six months and several open records requests, 385 of the transfer forms that document the chain of custody of absentee ballots deposited in drop boxes and transferred to the county registrar during the November 3, 2020, election have still not been provided to The Star News.
Read MoreFormer President Trump Praises Georgia Star News Reporter Laura Baigert
Former President Donald Trump released a statement on Thursday praising Georgia Star News journalist Laura Baigert for her investigative reporting efforts.
“Thank you and congratulations to Laura Baigert of the Georgia Star News on the incredible reporting you have done. Keep going! The scam is all unraveling fast!” President Trump said of her reporting.
Read MoreGeorgia Audit Documents Expose Significant Election Failures in State’s Largest County
Documents that Georgia’s largest county submitted to state officials as part of a post-election audit highlight significant irregularities in the Atlanta area during last November’s voting, ranging from identical vote tallies repeated multiple times to large batches of absentee ballots that appear to be missing from the official ballot-scanning records.
Read MoreFLASHBACK: Atlanta’s Fox 5 Reported on COVID-19 Outbreak in October at Fulton County Election Preparation Center Warehouse Where Absentee Ballots from Drop Boxes Were Delivered
A little more than two week prior to the 2020 election, Atlanta’s Fox5 TV reported on a COVID-19 outbreak at the Fulton County Election warehouse. TRANSCRIPT Courtney Bryant: This outbreak has hit a Fulton County elections warehouse in northwest Atlanta. Nearly a quarter of the workers tested positive as…
Read MoreJudge Halts Audit of Georgia Ballots
A judge in Georgia is temporarily stopping the audit on absentee ballots in Fulton County, Georgia that was allowed earlier last week.
Henry County Superior Court Judge Brian Amero, the same judge who granted the initial audit, ruled as officials within the county have filed numerous motions in an attempt to stop the audit.
Read MoreGOP Gubernatorial Candidate Vernon Jones Calls for ‘An Immediate Forensic Audit of the Georgia 2020 Election’
Georgia GOP gubernatorial candidate and former State Rep. Vernon Jones called for “an immediate for an immediate forensic audit of the Georgia 2020 election” at a press conference on Wednesday. Here is a transcript of that press conference: Jones: The integrity of our election is nonnegotiable. It is non-negotiable. Zero…
Read MoreGeorgia Gov. Kemp Officially Launches 2022 Campaign
Governor Brian Kemp of Georgia has officially launched his 2022 campaign, according to a press release from his campaign.
“Brian Kemp has a strong, conservative record of fighting for life, standing up for law enforcement, cutting taxes, protecting lives and livelihoods against the COVID-19 pandemic, and defending election integrity,” Kemp’s campaign manager said the statement.
Read MoreGeorgia’s Embattled Secretary of State Raffensperger to Seek Another Term
Controversial Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger confirmed on Tuesday that he will seek another term.
Raffensperger has been the focal point of criticism of Georgia’s election from both sides of the political aisle. He routinely ignored the widespread concerns over election security throughout the state.
Read MoreTrump Releases Statement on Georgia Lieutenant Governor
President Donald Trump released a statement on Monday celebrating the decision that Georgia Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan will not seek a second term.
“Good news for Georgia and the Republican Party. Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan won’t be running again for office. He was the one who, along with Governor Brian Kemp, stopped the Georgia State Senate from doing the job they wanted to do on the 2020 Presidential Election Fraud,” Trump said.
Read MoreBiden Offers Empty Platitudes During Speech in Georgia
President Joe Biden visited Duluth and gave a speech to several parked cars at a “drive-in rally” Thursday, marking his 100th day in office.
Besides touting the meager success of passing a COVID-19 stimulus, which has been Biden’s only major legislative accomplishment in his first 100 days in office, the subject matter of the speech was rather general.
Read MoreDoug Collins Will Not Seek Georgia Governor Job or a U.S. Senate Seat in 2022
Former U.S. Republican Congressman Doug Collins will not run for governor of Georgia in 2022 and he also will not pursue a U.S. Senate seat that year. Collins tweeted the news Monday.
Read MoreProposed Florida Vote-By-Mail Restrictions Scaled Back, But Opponents Not Swayed
A key Senate panel Wednesday amended a controversial bill imposing a range of restrictions on the state’s vote-by-mail (VBM) laws but did not vote on the measure after an exhaustive debate.
The Senate Rules Committee ran out of time before it could issue a verdict on Senate Bill 90 during a fiery marathon meeting that began with an hours’-long fracas over a proposed bill preempting local governments from regulating ports in areas “of critical state concern.”
Committee chair Sen. Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, concluded the meeting without calling for a vote on SB 90, saying the panel could take up the measure in its Friday meeting or next week. The bill was not on panel’s Friday agenda as of Thursday afternoon.
Read MoreReport: Three-Fourths of All 2019 Property Insurance Suits in U.S. Were Filed in Florida
In 2019, Florida homeowners accounted for 8.16 percent of the nation’s property insurance claims, but more than 76 percent of property insurance lawsuits lodged against insurers.
Pointing to this “disparity,” Florida Insurance Commissioner David Altmaier in a five-page April 2 letter to House Commerce Committee Chair Rep. Blaise Ingoglia, R-Spring Hill, outlined four proposals to reduce property insurance litigation.
Insurers cite rampant litigation, ballooning reinsurance costs, “loss creep” from 2017-18 hurricanes and coastal flooding as a “perform storm” of coalescing factors leading to double-digit property insurance rate hikes that Florida businesses and 6.2 million homeowners are seeing or will see when renewing policies.
Read MoreFlorida Transgender Sports Ban Advances Despite Potential Backlash
Florida Republicans are advancing bills banning transgender athletes from women’s and girls’ sports despite – perhaps, in spite of – potential corporate criticism and likely sanctions by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
“I certainly couldn’t care less,” House Speaker Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor, said Wednesday after the House approved the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act in a 77-40 vote after a four-hour debate in which 18 amendments were rejected.
The Fairness in Women’s Sports Act, House Bill 1475, filed by Rep. Kaylee Tuck, R-Lake Placid, would enact a blanket ban on transgender athletes competing as women in Florida. Transgender athletes could still compete in men’s sports.
Read MoreDeSantis and Doctors Accuse Media, Big Tech of Hiding Harm from COVID Restrictions
The media, academy and Big Tech are suppressing facts about the harms caused by COVID-19 lockdown policies, especially for younger generations, Gov. Ron DeSantis and public health experts said in a “roundtable discussion” on the novel coronavirus Monday.
These powerful American institutions are also misleading their audiences about the public health results from Florida’s open approach, which contrasted sharply with most states, they said.
The potential Republican presidential candidate hammered Google and its YouTube platform in particular for removing his earlier COVID-19 roundtable with the same doctors, branding it “misinformation.” Even some Florida news stations had their coverage removed.
Read MoreBrad Raffensperger Says Three Georgia Counties ‘Failed to Do Their Absentee Ballot Transfer Forms’ in Compliance with Rules and Regulations
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Wednesday announced that he had referred three counties for investigation after they bucked state law and failed to do their absentee ballot transfer forms from last November’s presidential election. Raffensperger, in a press release, identified those three counties as Coffee, Grady, and Taylor. The three counties account for only 0.37 percent of all absentee ballots cast in last year’s election, he said.
Read MoreGeorgia House Votes to Strip Delta of $35 Million in Tax Incentives
After the CEO of Georgia-based Delta Airlines caved to pressure from left wing activist groups and criticized a bill signed into law requiring voter identification for absentee ballots, Georgia’s House Republicans responded by voting to strip Delta of a major tax credit.
Delta has long-enjoyed a $35 million tax credit on jet fuel in the Peach State, but Thursday night, that tax credit was jeopardized, as House Republicans voted along party lines to end it, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Read MoreSuspect in Custody After Deadly Rampage at Georgia Massage Parlors
Details are emerging after a man was arrested for allegedly committing a series of killings in Georgia on Tuesday.
Robert Alan Long, 21, of Woodstock, was arrested in south Georgia after he allegedly killed eight people of Asian descent in shootings at three different massage parlors.
Read MoreGeorgia Secretary of State Official Who Sourced False WAPO Story About Donald Trump Explains Her Actions
The Georgia Secretary of State investigator who was the anonymous source for a Washington Post story about former U.S. President Donald Trump — that people now discredit — said Tuesday the paper got the story correct. This, aside from a few minor mistakes, said Georgia Deputy Secretary of State Jordan Fuchs, the anonymous source.
Read MoreFour Months After 2020 Presidential Election in Georgia No Chain of Custody Documents Produced for 404,000 Absentee Ballots Deposited in Drop Boxes; Fulton County One of 35 Scofflaw Counties
Four months after the November 3, 2020 presidential election, state and county officials in Georgia have failed to produce chain of custody documents for an estimated 404,691 vote by mail absentee ballots deposited in drop boxes and subsequently delivered to county registrars for counting.
As of March 3, only 56 of Georgia’s 159 counties have provided ballot transfer form data to The Georgia Star News. The number of absentee by mail ballots delivered to registrars in those 56 counties total only 195,309, or 32.5 percent, of the estimated 600,000 absentee vote by mail ballots deposited in drop boxes and delivered to county registrars and counted in Georgia’s 2020 presidential.
Read MoreGeorgia Senate Approves Election Reform Package, Including Absentee Ballot Signature-Match Overhaul
The Georgia Senate approved four measures Tuesday that make changes to the election process as a response to November’s presidential election.
Georgia gained national attention after a close presidential election prompted three recounts and lawsuits and threats from former President Donald Trump’s campaign and supporters. Several questions and allegations arose from Georgia’s absentee-ballot process.
Read MoreGeorgia Rep. Taylor Greene Files Articles of Impeachment Against Biden
A freshman U.S. House member from Georgia Thursday filed articles of impeachment against President Joe Biden, on Biden’s first full day in office.
“I’m filing articles of impeachment against Joe Biden for abuse of power, and he used the office of the Vice Presidency – he abused the power by threatening to withhold money – withhold foreign aid to Ukraine in order help his son, Hunter Biden in his business scams in a Ukrainian energy company,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA-14) told Real America’s News.
Read MoreGeorgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger Bashes Republicans in CNN Interview, Intends to Certify Runoff Election for Democrats
CNN found a new darling in Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R), who bashed Republicans and President Donald J. Trump in an interview with the network Thursday.
“For two long months, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger endured, standing in the firing line of Trump’s baseless attacks,” CNN’s Amara Walker said in a television interview featuring Raffensperger.
Read MoreDemocrats Set to Control the Sentate as David Perdue Concedes to Jon Ossoff
In a move that will effectively give Democrats the majority in the U.S. Senate, incumbent U.S. Senator David Perdue (R-GA) has conceded his reelection bid to his Democrat challenger.
In a concession statement, Perdue did not mention his opponent, Senator-Elect Jon Ossoff, by name.
Read MoreDemocratic Senate Candidates Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff Declared Victory as Counting Continued
Democratic candidates Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff claimed victory in their respective U.S. Senate runoff elections as vote counting continued. Warnock declared that he’d won late Tuesday evening, while Ossoff waited until Wednesday morning to declare his win.
At the time of press with over 98 percent reporting in for both races, Warnock led Republican incumbent Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) by over 55,600 votes, or just over 1 point. Ossoff led Republican incumbent David Perdue (R-GA) by over 18,400 votes, or just over half a point.
Read MoreREPORT: Georgia Secretary of State’s Spokesman Gabriel Sterling Negotiated Pay Raise to Work as Independent Contractor from November 2019 to December 2020
Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer Gabriel Sterling negotiated a $200,000 annual contract for himself last year to oversee the new voting technology from Dominion Voting Systems. Under that position, it’s reported that he worked as an independent contractor rather than as a government employee. However, he identified himself in that position as a full-time employee.
Sterling’s stint last year as an independent contractor aligned with the state’s decision in 2019 to award Dominion a $107 million contract for its voting systems. Prior to working as an independent contractor for the state, Sterling worked under one of his current positions: Chief Operating Officer. He earned much less under that government position – around $114,000 annually. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution obtained the information on Sterling’s contracts through an open records request.
Read MoreTrump Decries Vote Counting Process in Georgia
President Donald J. Trump is closely monitoring the election results in Georgia’s U.S. Senate runoff from Tuesday night, and decried several instances of possible malfeasance in the vote counting process.
“Looks like they are setting up a big ‘voter dump’ against the Republican candidates. Waiting to see how many votes they need?” he tweeted at 10:28pm.
Read MoreFulton County Voter Reports Dominion Voting Scanners Ran Out of Battery Power in His Precinct
Georgia voter Richard Hendrix reported that the Dominion Voting Systems (Dominion) scanners ran out of battery power at his Fulton County voting location at Heards Ferry Elementary School on Tuesday morning.
Hendrix stated that he filed a complaint with the Secretary of State’s office, and sent copies to Senator Burt Jones, Republican Party of Georgia Chairman David Ralston, and Governor Brian Kemp.
Read MoreTwitter, Media Prepping Public for Georgia Election Uncertainty
Twitter paired up with far-left news outlet Reuters Tuesday to prepare the public for a drawn-out runoff election process in Georgia.
“Why the winners in Georgia runoffs might not be known for days,” a Twitter “moment” said.
Read MoreGeorgia Voter: Spalding County Precinct Voting Machines Broken, No Paper Ballots Offered
A Spalding County voter told The Georgia Star News early Tuesday that voting machines broke at a Griffin-area polling place, and instead of receiving paper ballots, workers sent the voters waiting in line away.
In an interview with The Star News, the voter stated that she’d arrived at her polling place at Union Baptist church early because she works several jobs and wanted to ensure she could cast her vote.
Read MoreGeorgia Secretary of State Raffensperger on the Defense as Trump Presses on Difficult Questions About Drop Boxes, Signature Matching in Leaked Call
A private call between President Donald Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger was leaked by The Washington Post on Sunday afternoon. The call reportedly took place almost exactly a day prior to the time that the audio was leaked.
Others on the call included White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, Trump’s attorneys Cleta Mitchell and Kurt Hilbert, Georgia’s Secretary of State General Counsel Ryan Germany, and Georgia’s Deputy Secretary of State Jordan Fuchs.
Read MoreStill No Chain of Custody Documents Produced in Georgia for 76 Percent of Absentee Ballots Cast in Drop Boxes Two Months Ago in Presidential Election
Two months after the November 3 presidential election, the Georgia Secretary of State’s office and county officials in the state have failed to produce chain of custody documents known as ballot transfer forms that tracked the movement of 76 percent of the estimated 600,000 absentee ballots deposited in 300 drop boxes around the state and subsequently delivered to county registrars responsible for accurately and honestly counting those votes in that election.
Read MoreMajor Flaws in Georgia Secretary of State’s ‘Audit’ of Absentee Ballot Signature Matching in Cobb County
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is not responding to questions about major flaws in his office’s “audit” of Cobb County absentee ballot envelope signatures counted in the November 3 presidential election, the results of which were announced in a press release last week.
Raffensperger and Gov. Brian Kemp, both Republicans, have certified that former Vice President Joe Biden secured a razor thin margin of victory of 11,779 votes in Georgia in the November 3 election, despite numerous lawsuits alleging significant irregularities in that election.
Read MoreQuestions Surrounding Administration of ‘Rollover’ Absentee Ballots in Fulton County Remain Unanswered Days Before Georgia U.S. Senate Runoff Elections
Just days before the statewide U.S. Senate runoff in Georgia, confusion over obtaining absentee ballots remains.
“Georgians who are over the age of 65, members of the military or are physically disabled have the option of receiving absentee ballots for an entire election cycle by submitting a single application,” Atlanta radio station WABE reported in November.
Read MoreGeorgia Voters Sue Fulton County, Allege Illegal Ballot Scanning Corresponding with Vote Spike
A group of Georgia voters filed a lawsuit in Fulton County Superior Court earlier this week against the individual members of the Fulton County Board of Elections and individually against Richard Barron, Fulton County Elections Director. The lawsuit focused on the security footage presented by Trump’s legal team during the Georgia Senate hearing, popularized as the “suitcase ballots” video.
The plaintiffs alleged that the group of workers seen on video illegally scanned thousands of mail-in ballots hidden underneath skirted tables. They also claimed that those ballots may be fraudulent. Voters Organized for Trusted Election Results in Georgia (VOTERGA), a nonpartisan and non-profit election integrity coalition, organized the aggrieved voters into a group of plaintiffs.
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