State election officials send 4 cases to prosecutors, hear from Dominion execs

ATLANTA (WRDW/WAGT) – Some alleged election violations in the CSRA are among dozens sent to prosecutors by the Georgia Election Board this week.

The individual suspects were identified only by their first name and last initial in a news release from Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

None of the local cases involved the 2020 election. Among them:

• Mark M., of Sparta, for allegedly voting in the 2017 general election while under sentence as a felon and after his voter registration was canceled.
• Aretha H., of Sparta, for allegedly accepting 18 incomplete absentee ballot applications, issuing an absentee ballot without identifying information on file, accepting 26 absentee ballots with incomplete information, accepting five provisional ballots with incomplete information and accepting 25 voter certificates with incomplete information in the 2017 general election.
• Maxine E., of Sparta, for assisting 13 voters in the 2017 general election when the limit in non-federal elections is 10 voters.
• John M., of Blythe, for allegedly compensating a voter in the 2018 special municipal election
• The Hancock County Board of Elections and Registration for allegedly failing to mail 219 absentee ballots within three business days of receiving eligible applications during the 2018 general election.

The cases were forwarded during a meeting Wednesday in which the board also heard from Dominion Voting Systems, maker of the state’s voting equipment that’s been the target of fraud allegations, largely by Republicans.

To address those, Raffensperger invited Dominion executives to answer questions and refute the allegations.

“The allegations of widespread election fraud in November were completely baseless, and it was good to hear the explanation directly from the top officials of the voting system,” Raffensperger, who is also chairman of the Election Board, said in a news release. “Georgians should be assured their votes were counted accurately by the new system. The cases of alleged election violations that the board referred to prosecutors Wednesday also provide assurance that if there is wrongdoing, we will catch it.”

Raffensperger didn’t outline further details of what board members learned from Dominion at the meeting.

The voting system features a touch-screen that allows voters to make their choices. From there the choices are printed on a paper ballot that voters check for accuracy before inserting in a counting machine.

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