Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp honored law enforcement officers Tuesday during a ceremony at the state Capitol for their work recovering voting equipment stolen last month.

The theft happened days before the April 18 special election in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District, when four electronic poll books were stolen from a Cobb County precinct manager’s car.

The equipment is typically used to check in voters at the polls and includes drivers' license numbers, addresses and other data — not Social Security numbers.

Cobb County police arrested 18-year-old Kareem Riley on April 19. Riley told police he threw the equipment into a dumpster off Cascade Road in Atlanta.

Authorities said no voter information had been taken from the stolen voting equipment and the equipment was destroyed before being placed in a landfill.

Officers involved in the investigation included those from Cobb, Clayton County and College Park.

About the Author

Keep Reading

(Illustration: Jon Reyes for AJC)

Credit: Jon Reyes

Featured

In 2022, Georgia Power projected its winter peak electricity demand would grow by about 400 megawatts by 2031. Since then, Georgia has experienced a boom of data centers, which require a large load of electricty to run, and Georgia Power's recent forecast shows peak demand growing by 20 times the 400-megawatt estimate from just three years ago. (Illustration by Philip Robibero/AJC)

Credit: Illustration: Philip Robibero / AJC