Fulton County, Georgia, encompassing the Atlanta metropolitan area, has earned a notorious reputation for having one of the most mismanaged election systems in the nation. Beyond the well-documented election integrity issues—ranging from ballot scanning errors to allegations of counterfeit ballots—county election officials consistently struggle with basic logistical tasks, such as counting ballots in a timely manner. This chronic mismanagement has led to prolonged wait times for election results, undermining public confidence in the electoral process.
The irony of the situation is that Fulton County outsources its election administration to a so-called 'professional' elections group, The Elections Group LLC, based in Illinois. This raises a critical question: why is Fulton County outsourcing its elections in the first place, especially to a company that seems unable to meet the task?
The Elections Group LLC markets itself as a specialist in election administration, claiming to provide expert advice and support to ensure smooth and secure elections. However, the persistent problems in Fulton County make me wonder if their primary goal is actually 'secure' elections.
The problems with elections run by The Elections Group LLC in Fulton County are well documented; here are a few:
Ballot Scanning Issues: During the 2020 presidential election recount, it was found that Fulton County likely scanned more than 3,000 ballots twice. While it was unclear if these votes were counted twice, this led to concerns about the accuracy and integrity of the recount process (
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Missed Ballots: In the November 2020 election, some batches of absentee in-person ballots were initially missed but later found during a recount. This oversight necessitated additional recounts to verify the accuracy of the advanced voting ballots (
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Lack of Signature Verification: It was reported that no signature verification of absentee ballots took place in Fulton County during the 2020 election. This failure was attributed to issues with the electronic platform used for the verification process (
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Human Errors During Recount: Investigations into the 2020 presidential election revealed repeated human errors during an unofficial hand recount, including mismanagement and irregularities in vote counting (
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Insecure Transport and Privacy Violations: An independent monitor documented issues such as insecure transport of ballots and violations of voter privacy during the 2020 election. These mismanagement problems were detailed in a two dozen-page report (
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Alleged Counterfeit Ballots: A lawsuit claims that counterfeit ballots were included in the 2020 absentee election results, alleging that some absentee ballots appeared to be uncreased and hand-marked rather than machine-printed (
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Delayed Vote Counts: Historically, Fulton County has faced delays in counting votes, leading to prolonged wait times for election results. This issue was particularly evident in the 2020 elections (
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So who is behind The Elections Group LLC? The company's finances are murky at best, but it appears to be funded through direct grants from far-left nonprofits, including The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, which provided $600,000 in 2022 and $500,000 in 2023. Additionally, it indirectly receives funds from groups like the Center for Election Innovation & Research (CEIR) and the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC). These organizations provide funds to counties, which in turn hire The Election Group LLC.
The company is operated by Jennifer Morrell, who has a background running elections in Utah and Colorado; Noah Praetz, the former Director of Elections for Cook County, Illinois; and Ryan Macias, the former Director of the Voting Systems Testing and Certification Program at the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. While The Elections Group LLC claims to be 'nonpartisan,' it's important to note that everyone involved has strong ties to the Democratic Party and progressive causes, raising questions about their true impartiality.
The Elections Group LLC's leadership, combined with their questionable financial backing, suggests a significant influence from left-leaning organizations. This makes it all the more critical to scrutinize why they are repeatedly engaged to run Fulton County’s election administration and question whether their involvement is truly in the interest of fair and transparent elections.
To get a sense of just how involved The Elections Group LLC is with the elections they run in places like Fulton County just take a look at this letter (with track changes) found by @TheAndersPaul:
The Elections Group LLC's Ryan Macias is literally rewriting letters between Fulton County employees - in this case an email from the County's Registration Chief to the County's Director of Registration and Elections.
@TheAndersPaul even uncovered evidence that The Elections Group helped Fulton County officials build a system to bypass the official Secretary of State of Georgia's voter registration portal. This enabled them to mass input registrations to circumvent the state's various safeguards:
One thing is for certain: groups like The Election Group LLC aren't very good at running elections. The constant issues faced in places like Fulton County, Georgia, highlight their ineptitude—from ballot scanning errors and counterfeit ballots to delayed vote counts and broken voting machines. What isn't certain is whether we can even trust them to run our elections. Should we be trusting companies operated and funded by our political adversaries to handle something as crucial as our electoral process? The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, a known left-leaning organization, provides significant funding to The Election Group LLC. This raises serious questions about impartiality and integrity. It makes one wonder if they're 'bad' at running elections so they can manipulate the outcomes to their advantage. The stakes are too high to ignore the potential for partisan interference in our democratic processes.