Fulton County, Georgia, Admits to Counting 315,000 Votes Without Legal Certification
Joe Biden beat Donald Trump by fewer than 12,000 votes in Georgia in 2020. Hundreds of thousands of votes in the state’s Fulton County did not receive legal certification.
County officials have admitted to counting roughly 315,000 of the election’s early votes without proper certification, plainly stating, “it was a violation of the rule.”
"It was a violation of the rule,” elections official Ann Brumbaugh said during a hearing earlier this month. “We, since 2020, again, we have new leadership and a new building and a new board and new standard operating procedures. And since then, the training has been enhanced. … But … we don’t dispute the allegation from the 2020 election."
Georgia election officials must have each ballot scanner print three closing tapes at the end of each voting day. The signed tapes are the sole legal certification that the reported totals are authentic. But Fulton County produced zero signed tabulator tapes in early voting
You’re one of my trusted news sources but not the only one I trust. And some others I trust do say it’s a bigger deal. And it’s not a news source that claimed the election was stolen in 2020. So maybe it is more of a big deal than you think?
I am a poll manager in another county. You are absolutely correct about the signatures on tapes coming from the tabulators used in early voting. They are simply there to certify that the tapes were pulled and to verify their certification. The vote count has nothing to do with any signature. It is a separate event. Lack of a signature does not invalidate the votes.
I do not know any actual republicans, in person and in the flesh, who believe the election was stolen. I think those people peddling this mythology are actually either Russian plants or leftist trolls trying to divide the GOP. This issue so drives actual republicans to distraction and hatred of people, supposed republicans themselves, that its only value is in that hatred. Normal, realistic, common-sense republicans I know and talk to daily are so tired of this being brought up that they actively avoid elected officials who carry this as a torch. This is NOT a winning issue. Let it go and let's beat them at the ballot box like we did in 2024, which, if they really could steal an election never would have happened. That's the biggest tell that the "stolen election" lie, is actually a lie.
I would like to know why each state does not have election process audits performed by reputable accounting/auditing firms at regular intervals; every few voting cycles. My experience has been that folks conducting the voting process are honest, upstanding individuals; but all should be measured by compliance; and compliance measured through sound auditing.
It's almost as though a POTUS had already determined that if he lost it must be due to fraud which he would claim with no basis and convince millions of people in his cult of personality to believe. This would in turn would cause an entire conservative media ecosystem, which relies on the eyeballs of those cult members for revenue, to amplify those claims ad nauseam and seek out the most ridiculous "facts" and loud mouth douchebags to support that narrative.
Seeing DoJ sue Raffensperger and the Ga Repub. party competing for who can hump the leg the hardest with the dumbest ways to justify Trump's attempts to overturn that election have been beyond pathetic.
The people who keep bringing up this bullsh_t are outing themselves as dopes without even realizing it. When my friends send me these articles it just reminds me of how stupid some of them are. It's like OK I get it: you believe Obama was born in Kenya, you believe the 2020 election was stolen, you believe that Nancy Pelosi and the FBI instigated the J6th mob, you believe that tariffs are good for the economy, and of course you also believe that you are not a moron....
I thought the issue was the loss of chain of custody on those 315K ballots? So a full recount is irrelevant if the ballot is not valid. Without chain of custody how do you know the votes should be counted?
I say, “Stop”. Let it go. It’s over and a waste of time to give it any more attention. Let’s move forward. No matter what is said it will be talked about for years to come by those who can’t let it go. Focus on honest, consistent and valid ID elections.
We should have elections so honest that no one even would consider fraud.
Years ago I was talking to someone about New York City corruption. He mentioned an incident where pre loaded voting machines were placed in schools that weren’t used as voting places. At the end of the day they were collected with the legitimate machines.
I read more than one article on the issue and not one of them used the term "stolen election". Rather, they pointed out that when, whether by incompetence or design, any part of an election is grossly mishandled, there will be no way to prove or disprove that the election results are as they should be. It seems to me that when anyone points out the gross mishandling of ballots or other election related material from the 2020 election, there is an immediate nearly hysterical reaction shrieking that everything was fine and to shut up. It is over, it is done, no one will ever know anything, and that is a fact.
? I know six people that indicated that when they arrived at polling place they were told that they had already voted absentee. My daughters received 4 absentee ballots without requesting any.
My issue isn’t fraud and it isn’t relitigating 2020. It’s accountability and credibility.
If this exact procedural lapse had happened in a rural, Trump-leaning county, there’s no question the left would be demanding answers. Pretending otherwise is dishonest. When officials say “there were no issues” and later admit to a failure — even one that didn’t affect the outcome — brushing it off as nothing only erodes trust. Own it. Admit the mistake. Explain how it’s being fixed.
And to the Trump crowd: the outcome isn’t changing. It’s been five years. Biden isn’t president anymore. You won the last election. Stop trying to turn every administrative error into proof of a stolen one.
This isn’t about sides. It’s about competence, transparency, and treating voters like adults.
I get the fury and issues with people pointing out mistakes even the little ones. But in the end trust matters. The officials need to acknowledge they did wrong. The Trump team needs to move on. That’s it.
I agree, it’s a question of accountability and internal controls in conducting an election. I work elections here in Texas and there are very specific procedures for how you show the machines have zero votes when you start and all ballot counts have to match. Two people certify all the tapes. When you can’t follow fundamental internal controls and no one is checking to make sure procedures are followed why would anyone believe you ran the election fairly? Maybe all valid but self inflicted wound for Georgia.
Hopefully Georgia has tightened up their procedures by now. 2020 election results not changing at this point.
Georgia rules regarding zero tapes and tabulation tapes are the same rules you have in Texas. The Poll Manager and two assistant managers are required to sign each tapes. Been that way for the 20 years I've been involved with Cobb County GA.
This brief article is exactly why I subscribe to Erick Erickson. He’s a great source for clarification. I do think that too many people use the term “stolen election” when they actually mean there was too much manipulation, tampering, rule changes, and too many loop holes in 2020. Our legislators need to concentrate on fixing the voting laws that led to the problems with the 2020 election and less time on past grievances.
Thank you for addressing this. I could not imagine that there was a law in Georgia that would require taking away legitimate votes cast by legitimate voters after the fact. It is unbelievable how many MAGA election deniers now believe Rudy’s conviction should be overturned. I had hoped in vain after Trump was re-elected in 2024 that these people would move on from the 2020 election.
oh mean, the "stolen election" people are not going to like you.
Fulton County, Georgia, Admits to Counting 315,000 Votes Without Legal Certification
Joe Biden beat Donald Trump by fewer than 12,000 votes in Georgia in 2020. Hundreds of thousands of votes in the state’s Fulton County did not receive legal certification.
County officials have admitted to counting roughly 315,000 of the election’s early votes without proper certification, plainly stating, “it was a violation of the rule.”
"It was a violation of the rule,” elections official Ann Brumbaugh said during a hearing earlier this month. “We, since 2020, again, we have new leadership and a new building and a new board and new standard operating procedures. And since then, the training has been enhanced. … But … we don’t dispute the allegation from the 2020 election."
Georgia election officials must have each ballot scanner print three closing tapes at the end of each voting day. The signed tapes are the sole legal certification that the reported totals are authentic. But Fulton County produced zero signed tabulator tapes in early voting
You’re one of my trusted news sources but not the only one I trust. And some others I trust do say it’s a bigger deal. And it’s not a news source that claimed the election was stolen in 2020. So maybe it is more of a big deal than you think?
I am a poll manager in another county. You are absolutely correct about the signatures on tapes coming from the tabulators used in early voting. They are simply there to certify that the tapes were pulled and to verify their certification. The vote count has nothing to do with any signature. It is a separate event. Lack of a signature does not invalidate the votes.
I do not know any actual republicans, in person and in the flesh, who believe the election was stolen. I think those people peddling this mythology are actually either Russian plants or leftist trolls trying to divide the GOP. This issue so drives actual republicans to distraction and hatred of people, supposed republicans themselves, that its only value is in that hatred. Normal, realistic, common-sense republicans I know and talk to daily are so tired of this being brought up that they actively avoid elected officials who carry this as a torch. This is NOT a winning issue. Let it go and let's beat them at the ballot box like we did in 2024, which, if they really could steal an election never would have happened. That's the biggest tell that the "stolen election" lie, is actually a lie.
I would like to know why each state does not have election process audits performed by reputable accounting/auditing firms at regular intervals; every few voting cycles. My experience has been that folks conducting the voting process are honest, upstanding individuals; but all should be measured by compliance; and compliance measured through sound auditing.
It's almost as though a POTUS had already determined that if he lost it must be due to fraud which he would claim with no basis and convince millions of people in his cult of personality to believe. This would in turn would cause an entire conservative media ecosystem, which relies on the eyeballs of those cult members for revenue, to amplify those claims ad nauseam and seek out the most ridiculous "facts" and loud mouth douchebags to support that narrative.
Seeing DoJ sue Raffensperger and the Ga Repub. party competing for who can hump the leg the hardest with the dumbest ways to justify Trump's attempts to overturn that election have been beyond pathetic.
The people who keep bringing up this bullsh_t are outing themselves as dopes without even realizing it. When my friends send me these articles it just reminds me of how stupid some of them are. It's like OK I get it: you believe Obama was born in Kenya, you believe the 2020 election was stolen, you believe that Nancy Pelosi and the FBI instigated the J6th mob, you believe that tariffs are good for the economy, and of course you also believe that you are not a moron....
And don't forget 9/11 was an inside job.
And we didn't really land on the moon!
Insane Conspiracy theories and social media will ruin our country.
I thought the issue was the loss of chain of custody on those 315K ballots? So a full recount is irrelevant if the ballot is not valid. Without chain of custody how do you know the votes should be counted?
I say, “Stop”. Let it go. It’s over and a waste of time to give it any more attention. Let’s move forward. No matter what is said it will be talked about for years to come by those who can’t let it go. Focus on honest, consistent and valid ID elections.
We should have elections so honest that no one even would consider fraud.
Years ago I was talking to someone about New York City corruption. He mentioned an incident where pre loaded voting machines were placed in schools that weren’t used as voting places. At the end of the day they were collected with the legitimate machines.
I read more than one article on the issue and not one of them used the term "stolen election". Rather, they pointed out that when, whether by incompetence or design, any part of an election is grossly mishandled, there will be no way to prove or disprove that the election results are as they should be. It seems to me that when anyone points out the gross mishandling of ballots or other election related material from the 2020 election, there is an immediate nearly hysterical reaction shrieking that everything was fine and to shut up. It is over, it is done, no one will ever know anything, and that is a fact.
? I know six people that indicated that when they arrived at polling place they were told that they had already voted absentee. My daughters received 4 absentee ballots without requesting any.
Maybe just Fulton county govt as usual.
I noticed some posts about this and didn't know anything about it. Thank you for being on top of your game even when you're on Christmas break.
My issue isn’t fraud and it isn’t relitigating 2020. It’s accountability and credibility.
If this exact procedural lapse had happened in a rural, Trump-leaning county, there’s no question the left would be demanding answers. Pretending otherwise is dishonest. When officials say “there were no issues” and later admit to a failure — even one that didn’t affect the outcome — brushing it off as nothing only erodes trust. Own it. Admit the mistake. Explain how it’s being fixed.
And to the Trump crowd: the outcome isn’t changing. It’s been five years. Biden isn’t president anymore. You won the last election. Stop trying to turn every administrative error into proof of a stolen one.
This isn’t about sides. It’s about competence, transparency, and treating voters like adults.
I get the fury and issues with people pointing out mistakes even the little ones. But in the end trust matters. The officials need to acknowledge they did wrong. The Trump team needs to move on. That’s it.
I agree, it’s a question of accountability and internal controls in conducting an election. I work elections here in Texas and there are very specific procedures for how you show the machines have zero votes when you start and all ballot counts have to match. Two people certify all the tapes. When you can’t follow fundamental internal controls and no one is checking to make sure procedures are followed why would anyone believe you ran the election fairly? Maybe all valid but self inflicted wound for Georgia.
Hopefully Georgia has tightened up their procedures by now. 2020 election results not changing at this point.
Georgia rules regarding zero tapes and tabulation tapes are the same rules you have in Texas. The Poll Manager and two assistant managers are required to sign each tapes. Been that way for the 20 years I've been involved with Cobb County GA.
This brief article is exactly why I subscribe to Erick Erickson. He’s a great source for clarification. I do think that too many people use the term “stolen election” when they actually mean there was too much manipulation, tampering, rule changes, and too many loop holes in 2020. Our legislators need to concentrate on fixing the voting laws that led to the problems with the 2020 election and less time on past grievances.
Thank you for addressing this. I could not imagine that there was a law in Georgia that would require taking away legitimate votes cast by legitimate voters after the fact. It is unbelievable how many MAGA election deniers now believe Rudy’s conviction should be overturned. I had hoped in vain after Trump was re-elected in 2024 that these people would move on from the 2020 election.