Georgia Election Board Member calls for investigation into ‘improper procedures’ during recount of Fulton County 2020 ballots

Charlene McGowan, general counsel for the secretary of state’s office, said during a Georgia state elections board meeting on Tuesday, "The conclusion of this investigation ... is that Fulton County used improper procedures during the recount of the presidential contest in 2020," according to Atlanta News First.

McGowan, however, said the investigation’s outcome doesn’t change the election’s outcome in the state. Biden flipped the state in 2020, winning by just 11,779 votes.

"This investigation confirmed what we already knew," McGowan said. "There is nothing we have learned that is new from this investigation."

An investigation was launched in 2022 after a complaint was filed alleging that there were vote count irregularities involving 17,852 votes.

The investigation uncovered duplicate ballot images as well as thousands of missing ballot images.

The state elections board is sending a letter of reprimand to Fulton County following the investigation and has also ordered a monitor to oversee the 2024 election in the state.

Janice Johnston, a board member of the state elections board, called for the monitor in the Tuesday hearing as well as for the secretary of state to either invalidate the 17,852 votes or launch an investigation into whether those votes are authentic.

Fulton County spokesperson Jessica Corbitt said in a statement, "Fulton County’s performance during the 2020 elections has been exhaustively scrutinized but the results, confirmed by three different counts, have not changed. Nor has there been any evidence of fraud or malfeasance. As in previous reviews, most of the claims in this complaint were found to be unsubstantiated, and, again, the results are not in question."

“Since the 2020 election, Fulton County has hired a new director, implemented numerous procedural updates and invested in a new elections headquarters,” Corbitt said. “It has conducted six elections and independent monitors have noted improvement. Fulton County looks forward to putting these cases about 2020 in the past and focusing on the upcoming elections.”