By KATE BRUMBACK
ATLANTA (AP) — Two months after the 2020 presidential election, a workforce of laptop consultants traveled to south Georgia to repeat software program and knowledge from voting gear in an obvious breach of a county election system. They have been greeted outdoors by the top of the native Republican Party, who was concerned in efforts by then-President Donald Trump to overturn his election loss.
A safety digicam outdoors the elections workplace in rural Coffee County captured their arrival. The footage additionally exhibits that some native election officers have been on the workplace throughout what the Georgia secretary of state’s workplace has described as “alleged unauthorized access” of election gear.
Security footage from two weeks later raises further alarms — displaying two individuals who have been instrumental in Trump’s wider efforts to undermine the election outcomes coming into the workplace and staying for hours.
The safety video from the elections workplace within the county about 200 miles southeast of Atlanta gives a glimpse of the lengths Trump’s allies went to in service of his fraudulent election claims. It additional exhibits how entry was facilitated by native officers who’re entrusted with defending the safety of elections whereas elevating considerations about delicate voting know-how being launched into the general public area.
Georgia wasn’t the one state the place voting gear was accessed after the 2020 presidential election. Important details about voting techniques additionally was compromised in election workplaces in Pennsylvania,Michigan and Colorado. Election safety consultants fear the knowledge obtained — together with full copies of onerous drives — could possibly be exploited by those that wish to intervene with future elections.
“The system is only as secure as the people who are entrusted to keep it secure,” mentioned lawyer David Cross, who represents plaintiffs in a long-running lawsuit over Georgia’s voting machines.
The Coffee County safety footage was obtained by that lawsuit, which alleges that Georgia’s touchscreen voting machines are susceptible to assault and needs to be changed by hand-marked paper ballots. The go well with lengthy predates and is unrelated to false allegations of widespread election fraud pushed by Trump and his allies after the 2020 election.
The alleged breach in Coffee County’s elections workplace additionally has caught the eye of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who’s overseeing an investigation into whether or not Trump and his allies illegally tried to affect the 2020 election ends in Georgia.
Last month, Willis cited the Coffee County exercise, amongst different issues, when she sought to compel testimony from Sidney Powell, an legal professional who was deeply concerned in Trump’s effort to undo the election outcomes.
Emails and different information present Powell and different attorneys linked to Trump helped organize for a workforce from knowledge options firm SullivanStrickler to journey to Coffee County, which Trump received by practically 40 proportion factors.
The surveillance video, emails and different paperwork that make clear what occurred there in January 2021 have been produced in response to subpoenas issued within the voting machine lawsuit and have been obtained by The Associated Press. Parts of the safety video seem to contradict claims by a few of the native officers:
— Footage captures Cathy Latham, then chair of the Coffee County Republican Party, arriving on the elections workplace shortly after 11:30 a.m. on Jan. 7, 2021, the day after the violent assault on the U.S. Capitol. Just a number of weeks earlier, she was one among 16 Georgia Republicans who signed a certificates falsely stating that Trump had received the state and declaring that they have been the state’s “duly elected and qualified” electors.
A couple of minutes after her arrival, she is seen outdoors greeting SullivanStrickler chief working officer Paul Maggio and two different folks. Less than 10 minutes later, she escorts two different males into the constructing.
The video exhibits her leaving the elections workplace simply earlier than 1:30 p.m., roughly two hours after she greeted the SullivanStrickler workforce. She returns a bit of earlier than 4 p.m. after which leaves round 6:15 p.m.
Latham mentioned below oath throughout a deposition in August that she stopped by the elections workplace that night for “Just a few minutes” and left earlier than 5 p.m. Pressed on whether or not she had been there earlier within the day, Latham mentioned she couldn’t recall however urged her schedule as a trainer wouldn’t have allowed it.
A lawyer for SullivanStrickler mentioned in an electronic mail hooked up to a court docket submitting that Latham was a “primary point of contact” in coordinating the corporate’s work and “was on site” whereas that work was achieved.
Robert Cheeley, a lawyer for Latham mentioned in an emailed assertion that his shopper doesn’t bear in mind all the main points of that day. But he mentioned she “would not and has not knowingly been involved in any impropriety in any election” and “has not acted improperly or illegally.”
— The video additionally exhibits Eric Chaney, a member of Coffee County’s election board, arriving shortly earlier than 11 a.m. the identical day and going out and in a number of occasions earlier than leaving for the night time round 7:40 p.m. Lawyers for the plaintiffs within the voting machine lawsuit wrote in a court docket submitting {that a} photograph produced by SullivanStrickler’s COO exhibits Chaney within the workplace because the copying is occurring.
During a deposition final month, Chaney declined to reply many questions on that day, citing the Fifth Amendment. But when an legal professional representing the county reached out to him in April relating to questions from the The Washington Post, Chaney wrote, “I am not aware of nor was I present at the Coffee County Board of Elections and Registration’s office when anyone illegally accessed the server or the room in which it is contained.” Chaney resigned from the elections board final month, days earlier than his deposition.
Attempts to achieve Chaney by cellphone have been unsuccessful, and his lawyer didn’t reply to an electronic mail looking for remark.
— About two weeks after the preliminary breach, video exhibits Misty Hampton — then the county elections director — arriving on the elections workplace at 4:20 p.m. on Jan. 18, when it was closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. She unlocked the door and let in two males — Doug Logan and Jeff Lenberg, who’ve been energetic in efforts to problem the 2020 election outcomes.
Logan based Cyber Ninjas, which participated in a partisan and in the end discredited evaluate of the 2020 election in Maricopa County, Arizona. The two males remained inside till simply after 8 p.m. after which spent greater than 9 hours there the following day. Lenberg returned for transient visits on a minimum of three extra days later that month.
Hampton resigned as elections supervisor in February 2021 after elections board officers mentioned she falsified her timesheets. Attempts by the AP to achieve her have been unsuccessful.
In an announcement launched by its legal professional, SullivanStrickler mentioned the corporate was retained by attorneys to forensically copy voting machines used within the 2020 election and had no motive to imagine they might ask its workers to do something improper.
The Georgia secretary of state’s workplace mentioned it opened an investigation in March and requested the Georgia Bureau of Investigation for help final month. State officers have mentioned the system stays safe due to a number of protections in place.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”