Breaking: New Emails from the State Election Board Demonstrate shocking Lack of governance from the Chairman and the Office of the Attorney General
Is is sloppiness or is it Intentional? A board member would like to know.
For the past two plus years, I have written extensively about two complaints filed with the State Election Board. In one of my recent articles, I described one of the complaints (SEB 2021-181 filed by Joe Rossi and Jack James) regarding the Risk Limiting Audit in Fulton County, Ga, from the 2020 election, as having been adjudicated into a Consent Decree.
This decree was an agreement between the State Election Board and Fulton County, with the office of the Attorney General of the State of Georgia handling the legal issues. Emails were obtained by Mr. Rossi via personal correspondence and open records request.
Incredibly, in the June 21st State Board meeting it was discovered the decree was voted on WITHOUT the committee members having read the decree nor having a physical copy of the decree. The consent decree was “described” to the board members before the vote, but we now know the committee voted and signed-off on something very important that they had not read.
Some of the open records received were redacted due to attorney/client privilege (and email addresses), but we can clearly see from the following emails on June 22nd, that something just might be seriously rotten in Denmark.
Board member Dr. Janice Johnston states that neither she nor Mrs. Sara Ghazal (another board member) received a copy of the Consent Decree they voted on the previous day. She makes another eye-opening statement, as well: “Not having data like this and voting affirmatively is a serious breach of protocol that interferes with our ability to perform the duties assigned to us.”
Dr. Johnston and Mrs. Ghazal represent, respectively, the State Republican and Democratic parties on the State Election Board. They were nominated by their respective political parties’ executive committees and appointed by the Governor.
At the end of the last paragraph, Dr. Johnston stated, regarding whether any of this happened intentionally, “When the AG cases were conveyed by email, this material was omitted. That is at least some evidence of possible intentionality.”
This is a very serious statement made by Dr. Johnston. It appears to be heartfelt and with bone fide merit.
All share in culpability, some more than others. Every member of the committee voted on the consent decree that affects the voting process of the largest county in the state without knowing the specifics (it doesn’t appear that two other board members received copies, as well). The Office of the Attorney General and Chairman Duffey seem more culpable than others. As she should have, Dr. Johnston openly questioned the intentionality of this ragged effort and the process in general. With what happened regarding voting in this state in the past three years, how could something so sloppy occur within the State Election Board of Georgia and the Office of the Attorney General? Sloppy or intentional?
Dr. Johnston also noted that the signed consent order “was not sent to us immediately…there was no communication that this was added to the agenda, nor was there an email of the summary, consent, or exhibit.”
The office of the chief legal officer of the State of Georgia, the Attorney General, appears to have failed miserably, as well. The information from the AG’s office was described as “received a few minutes before the meeting started”, minus the consent decree in question, along with “this vote was rushed through.” Pretty damning information.
A month later, during an email discussion, Board member Johnston tells Chairman Duffey that Mr. Rossi called her immediately after the vote, and Dr. Johnston relays to Mr. Rossi that she did not have a copy of the decree. Chairman Duffey suggests another questionable interpretation.
More correspondence from July 22nd, a month after the hearing.
“Did you express your view that it was withheld from you intentionally and did you state whether you believe it was intentionally withheld from others?” asked Chairman Duffey.
Someone sounds concerned. It would be interesting to know if Chairman Duffey believes the document was intentionally withheld.
If you read this 5:45 PM statement from Dr. Johnston, apparently board member Edward Lindsey had only seen the consent decree between lunch and the afternoon session---indicating he likely didn’t have a copy as well.
As a citizen of this state, Mr. Rossi has every right to know what transpired with this vote. Chairman Duffey seemed eager to find where Mr. Rossi was getting his information.
Why would it be a problem for citizen Joe Rossi to reach out to the board member who represents his political party on this Board? This captures the essence of what has gone awry in the State of Georgia between the government and its citizens.
On July 17th, the paralegal for the Board of Elections, Alexandra Hardin, answers Mr. Rossi’s question, “were the board members provided a copy of the consent agreement prior to being asked to vote on it at the June meeting?” Alex Hardin: “Yes, the board members review the consent orders before voting on them at the meeting.” This did not accurately answer Mr. Rossi’s question.
Recall what board member Mrs. Sara Ghazal stated in the earlier email dated June 23 9:40 AM.
“I received a call from Alex (Alexandra) Wednesday evening. She was deeply concerned over her own failure to provide these materials to Dr. Johnston and myself.”
Pretty self-explanatory, I’d say.
To “remedy” this egregious and embarrassing issue, Chairman Duffey opened the August 2023 meeting of the State Board with a long diatribe, attempting to do damage control regarding this “consent decree-Gate”.
Once Mr. Rossi read the contents of the consent decree that he obtained through another entity’s open records request, there were significant issues found with this board-approved agreement. The most egregious was the following statement (Item 5 from the Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law section of the consent decree), which read:
“The discovered errors were a fractional number of the total votes counted and did not affect the results of the 2020 general election which were confirmed as accurate by the risk limiting audit.”
This statement is shockingly inaccurate on several fronts (confirmed by at least four independent sources, including the Governor’s office).
Mr. Rossi spoke and relayed this egregious problem with the decree and expressed his dismay to the State Board as the first guest speaker (after the Chairman) in the August 1, 2023, meeting.
Recall the so-called margin of victory by the Biden camp was a mere 12,000 votes. Why have the State government entities in charge of these processes been more than willing to excuse such sloppiness in verifying our state’s vote, which has enormous ramifications in the election of the President of the United States.
Close your eyes and think of the two election workers that were caught on video processing ballots in State Farm Arena for several hours after Fulton County shut down the counting and told EVERYONE to go home. How much longer are we going to accept this nonsense in our state? Oh, it was all fixed by SB202, right? Apparently not.
These serious questions demand serious answers from the offices of the Attorney General and the Secretary of State. No more dodging the truth. Never mind that the State Election Board would be so willing to pass this pertinent decree involving the largest county in the state without specifically knowing its contents. Regardless of whether this was intentional, it reflects poorly on everyone at the State who was involved. Incompetence at best, or potentially something far worse.
How will the 2nd complaint I spoke of be handled? Rossi/James/Moncla have filed a detailed complaint that levies some very serious allegations in the 2020 elections that has yet to be adjudicated by the Attorney’s General office. Will this be treated similarly?
You can read it here:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/azuwtc1ti4t1dbt/jrmc2sebcomplaint7-16-22.pdf?dl=0
A reminder at this critical in time in our celebrated history: Every member of the State Legislature and in the Halls of Congress, and every person employed by the State and Federal governments, work for WE THE PEOPLE. Many of us know plenty of hard-working people in our State and Federal government who would abhor the behavior demonstrated by these actions. On the other hand, there are many, especially in the State Legislature and in Congress, who clearly have no interest in the welfare of their constituents. We must fight for every inch of the truth, with our state legislators, who don’t seem to be listening, and the administrative state, who believe they can do as they please. This is true for the State of Georgia and our Constitutional Republic. There is every indication that they continue to lie to us at will. Make your voices heard! Reach out to your legislators, State and Federal, and tell them what you think about the out-of-control politically motivated entities in this State and our country.
Be prepared to see another rogue agency in action this week, with the Fulton County District Attorney’s office indicting and arresting our 45th President. Again.
Great work, Tim and Joe. Maybe some legislators in Atlanta might finally decide to be representatives of the people and not lackeys of the the donors and the media and the deep state. You keep writing, and I'll keep reading and praying.
Amen! Thank you!