ATLANTA — A performance review of Fulton County elections operations recommended against a state takeover Friday, finding that the county has made “significant improvement” since the 2020 election year.
“Replacing the board would not be helpful and would in fact hinder the ongoing improvements to Fulton County elections,” according to the 19-page report by a three-person panel appointed by the State Election Board.
The review of elections operations in Fulton, the most populated county in the state, arose from a provision in Georgia’s 2021 voting law that allowed troubled local election boards to be replaced after an investigation.
After a year and a half, the inquiry cited many changes in training, processes and procedures that corrected issues observed during elections in 2020.
“We did not see any indications of fraud, dishonesty, or intentional malfeasance in the 2020 election results in Fulton County, but we did see how a lack of careful planning and precision in ensuring that processes were strictly followed led to errors and to an overall environment that appeared unorganized,” the report said.
During the 2020 primary, voters experienced long lines during the COVID-19 pandemic because of precinct closures, staffing shortages, absentee ballot processing problems and the rollout of a new voting system.
Then in the 2020 presidential election, the report cited process errors during an audit that recounted all paper ballots by hand.
Overall, the results were similar in the initial count, the manual audit and a machine recount. Democrat Joe Biden defeated Republican Donald Trump by about 12,000 votes across Georgia, and Biden received 73% of the vote in Fulton County.
The performance review as conducted by Republican Rickey Kittle, chairman of the Catoosa County elections board; Democrat Stephen Day, a member of the Gwinnett County elections board; and Ryan Germany, general counsel for Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
The Carter Center contributed election observers to the performance review process.
The State Election Board will review the performance review panel’s report and decide on potential further action.
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