ATLANTA, Georgia – The Georgia State Election Board held a meeting on Tuesday regarding alleged ballot harvesting in Gwinnett County during the 2020 election cycle.
“We will give this a fair look. We’ll call balls and strikes as fairly as we see them, and the chips will fall where they may, but it’s not going to be a witch-hunt” said Matthew Mashburn, the senior-most member of the board before the meeting.
The election board’s members include Edward Lindsey, Janice Johnston, Sara Tindall Ghazal, and Matthew Mashburn. The Elections Division of the Secretary of State’s Office organizes and oversees all election activity, including voter registration, municipal, state, county, and federal elections, according to the SOS website.
Eventually, the board decided to dismiss the three complaints, much to the chagrin of those in attendance and watching online. The board members were skeptical of the complaints.
Lindsey invited True the Vote, an election integrity nonprofit, to bring forward information provided to them by a whistleblower.
On April 27, the State Election Board issued subpoenas, and a complaint made by True the Vote followed on November 30, 2021. The subpoenas compel the Texas-based election fraud prevention group to submit documents, recordings, and names of the alleged ballot traffickers. Additionally, True the Vote co-founder, Catherine Engelbrecht, was subject to deposition on March 26. Acting Chairperson of the State Election Board Matt Mashburn signed the subpoena on April 21.
Despite the fact that True the Vote viewed the subpoenas as intimidation tactics, Lindsey remained skeptical.
“I believe it is incumbent upon us to have the [attorney general] move forward,” said Lindsey.
Mashburn raised the issue of mistrust in the voting process when he mentioned the problems citizens still have with the infamous State Farm Arena ballot suitcase surveillance videos.
“I want you to go to securevoteGA.com/factcheck and that is the actual video from the SOS of State Farm Arena. Go to camera 2, timestamp 1026 and watch the next three-and-a-half minutes,” Mashburn said.
The meeting included an update on the complaint made by True the Vote, the primary source for Dinesh D’Souza’s documentary film 2000 Mules, which The Atlanta Journal-Constitution criticized for lacking substantiated evidence of ballot trafficking.
According to The Epoch Times, no ruling was made Tuesday on the complaint filed based on the movie.
Since its recent release, the film has trended several times, and Twitter users have shared surveillance video clips of alleged ballot harvesters making their drops at various times of the day. Gwinnett County is the same county that attempted to charge $15,000 for the purchase of the surveillance video of election drop boxes.
The meeting was open to interested parties, and some were not satisfied with the outcome.
“Maybe [the election board members] have not watched 2000 Mules. [They] probably haven’t,” a person in attendance at the meeting told The Georgia Star News. “While I was watching [the meeting], the chair threatened to clear the room when one lady member said that and catcalls began.”
“Essentially, the board members I saw stonewalled and continued to say they had seen no credible evidence of voter fraud,” another meeting observer said.
In addition to being posted on the Vimeo page of the Georgia House of Representatives, the meeting was also livestreamed by Facebook user Rebeckah Bennett, who was in attendance. One viewer asked, “Why can’t we see how we vote at the SOS website?” and another said, “This is disgusting. We need to get rid of these people. If they can’t see the fraud they need to be fired and held accountable for betraying the American people. They are the problem.”
Some high-profile figures were in also attendance.
YG Nyghtstorm is running for Congress District 7 out of Gwinnett County and attended the meeting.
“The fact that the media and some in this State House are not considering the problems of their constituency is a problem to me. This should not be a partisan issue,” he said. “I hope we can all stand together regardless of political party for what’s right and what’s true, for the betterment of this state and this country.”
Johnston conceded that the 2022 primary elections are off to a rough start.
“Let me share a few words with you. What we are seeing in the May 24th primary is what I call a rough start,” she said. “Complaints by workers that the ballot is too long for this election system. ElectionNet down on day two and day 14. EasyVote, unusable and other poll problems in Cobb County. Fulton County early voting scanners, slower than molasses. DeKalb County ballots misprinted and sent to voters. Fulton County voters given the wrong ballots.”
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Addison Basurto is a reporter at The Georgia Star and The Star News Network. Follow Addy on Twitter and GETTR. Email tips to [email protected].
