ATLANTA (AP) — The story of breached voting tools in one of many nation’s most essential political battleground states includes a bail bondsman, a distinguished lawyer tied to former President Donald Trump’s makes an attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election and a solid of characters from a rural county that not often attracts discover from outsiders.
How all of them got here collectively and what it may imply for the safety of voting within the upcoming midterm elections are questions tousled in a lawsuit and state investigations which have prompted calls to ditch the machines altogether.
Particulars of the unauthorized entry of delicate voting tools in Espresso County, Georgia, turned public final month when paperwork and emails revealed the involvement of high-profile Trump supporters. That is additionally when it caught the eye of an Atlanta-based prosecutor who’s main a separate investigation of Trump’s efforts to undo his loss within the state.
Since then, revelations about what occurred within the county of 43,000 folks have raised questions on whether or not the Dominion Voting Techniques machines utilized in Georgia have been compromised.
The general public disclosure of the breach started with a rambling cellphone name from an Atlanta-area bail bondsman to the pinnacle of an election safety advocacy group concerned in a long-running lawsuit focusing on the state’s voting machines.
In accordance with a recording filed in court docket earlier this yr, the bail bondsman stated he’d chartered a jet and was with a pc forensics staff on the Espresso County elections workplace once they “imaged each exhausting drive of each piece of kit.”
That occurred on Jan. 7, 2021, a day after the violent riot on the U.S. Capitol and two days after a runoff election through which Democrats swept each of Georgia’s U.S. Senate seats.
The journey to Espresso County, about 200 miles south of Atlanta, to repeat information and software program from elections tools was directed by lawyer Sidney Powell and different Trump allies, in accordance with deposition testimony and paperwork produced in response to subpoenas.
Later that month, safety digicam footage reveals, two males who’ve participated in efforts to query the outcomes of the 2020 election in a number of states spent days going out and in of the Espresso County elections workplace.
The footage additionally reveals native election and Republican Social gathering officers welcoming the guests and permitting them entry to the election tools. The video appears to contradict statements a few of the officers made about their obvious involvement.
The brand new info has made Espresso County, the place Trump received almost 70% of the vote two years in the past, a focus of issues over the safety of voting machines. Whereas there isn’t a proof of widespread issues with voting tools in 2020, some Trump supporters have unfold false details about machines and the election final result.
Election safety consultants and activists worry state election officers have not acted quick sufficient within the face of what they see as an actual menace.
The copying of the software program and its availability for obtain means potential dangerous actors may construct actual copies of the Dominion system to check various kinds of assaults, stated College of California, Berkeley pc scientist Philip Stark, an professional witness for the plaintiffs within the voting machines lawsuit.
“That is like financial institution robbers having an actual reproduction of the vault that they’re making an attempt to interrupt into,” he stated.
Stark stated the dangers may very well be minimized by utilizing hand-marked paper ballots and rigorous audits. Dominion says its tools stays safe.
Marilyn Marks, govt director of the Coalition for Good Governance, the group that sued over the state’s voting machines, stated the state has been gradual to research. She was on the receiving finish of the cellphone name from the bail bondsman.
The state, she stated, has been “repeatedly wanting the opposite manner when confronted with flashing pink lights of great voting system safety issues.”
State officers say they’re assured the election system is secure. All Espresso County election tools that wasn’t already changed shall be swapped out earlier than early voting begins subsequent month, the secretary of state’s workplace stated Friday.
State officers additionally famous they had been deluged by false claims after the 2020 election.
“Looking back, you’ll be able to say, effectively what about this, this and this,” stated Gabriel Sterling, a prime official within the Georgia secretary of state’s workplace. “In actual time, no, there was no purpose to suppose that.”
In late January 2021, a number of weeks after the pc forensics staff visited, safety video reveals a secretary of state’s workplace investigator arriving on the Espresso County elections workplace. He and the elections supervisor stroll into the room that homes the election administration system server. Seconds later, Jeff Lenberg, who has been recognized by Michigan authorities as being a part of an effort to realize entry to voting machines there, is seen strolling out of that room.
Requested whether or not Lenberg’s presence within the room with delicate election tools raised issues for the investigator, secretary of state’s workplace spokesperson Mike Hassinger stated the investigator was wanting into an unrelated matter and did not know who Lenberg was.
Safety video additionally confirmed one other man, Doug Logan, on the workplace in mid-January. Logan based an organization known as Cyber Ninjas, which led a discredited assessment of the 2020 election in Maricopa County, Arizona. In Could 2021, Espresso County’s new elections supervisor raised issues with the secretary of state’s workplace after discovering Logan’s enterprise card by a pc. The election supervisor’s issues had been referred to an investigator, however he testified that nobody ever contacted him.
Hassinger stated the secretary of state’s workplace responds to allegations when they’re raised however that “details about unauthorized entry to Espresso County’s election tools has been stored hidden” by native officers and others.
A lot of what’s identified was uncovered by way of paperwork, safety digicam video and depositions produced in response to subpoenas within the lawsuit filed by particular person voters and the election safety advocacy group. The go well with alleges Georgia’s touchscreen voting machines should not safe and seeks to power the state to make use of hand-marked paper ballots as a substitute.
The not too long ago produced proof of a breach wasn’t the primary signal of issues in Espresso County, which precipitated complications for state election officers within the hectic weeks following the 2020 election. It is doubtless that turmoil helped open the door for Trump’s allies.
In early December 2020, the county elections board declined to certify the outcomes of a machine recount requested by Trump, saying the election system had produced inaccurate outcomes. A video posted on-line days later confirmed the previous county elections supervisor saying the elections software program may very well be manipulated; as she spoke, the password to the county election administration system server was seen on a notice caught to her pc.
On the finish of December, Cathy Latham, the Espresso County Republican Social gathering chair who additionally was a faux elector for Trump, appeared at a state legislative committee listening to and made additional claims that the voting machines had been unreliable.
Inside days of that listening to, Latham stated, she was contacted by Scott Corridor, the bail bondsman, who had been a Republican observer throughout an election recount. Latham testified in a deposition that Corridor requested her to attach him with the Espresso County elections supervisor (who later was accused of falsifying timesheets and compelled to resign).
Just a few days later, on Jan. 7, Corridor met with a pc forensics staff from information options agency SullivanStrickler on the Espresso County elections workplace. The staff copied the info and software program on the election administration system server and different voting system elements, an organization govt stated in a deposition. The corporate stated it believed its purchasers had the required permission.
Invoices present the info agency billed Powell $26,000 for the day’s work.
“Every thing went easily yesterday with the Espresso County assortment,” the agency’s chief working officer wrote to Powell in an e mail. “Everybody concerned was extraordinarily useful.”