The Secretary of State is investigating allegations that the cards containing voters’ results for the May 24 Primary elections in Clayton County were improperly handled.
“We’ve opened an investigation based on a complaint that the memory cards weren’t properly secured,” the agency’s spokesperson Candice Broce told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Broce declined to give details about the probe saying “It’s an ongoing investigation at this time.”
Memory cards are inside the voting machines and save voters’ votes.
Clayton Elections Director Shauna Dozier told the AJC Tuesday that she has not been contacted by the Secretary of State’s office.
“If there is some type of investigation, I can’t discuss it with you at this time,” said Dozier, a former Fulton County registration chief, who was hired in March to replace the former head of Clayton elections, Annie Bright who retired in May 2015.
Lovejoy resident Ivan Pitts said filed a complaint with the Secretary of State’s office May 29 shortly after hearing that Clayton elections officials did not properly secure the memory cards.
“If they didn’t secure the memory cards, they could have made changes on the memory cards which contain voters’ votes and that could be considered fraud as far as I’m concerned,” Pitts said. “I’m glad the Secretary of State’s looking into this. If we can’t get any satisfaction in this (investigation), we may have to reach out to the U.S. Justice Department.”
One candidate who ran unsuccessfully for sheriff during the May 24 primary welcomed the state’s investigation. Incumbents were the big winners in the primary.
“I did expect a few more runoffs than we had and given the low voter turnout, the election results were really weird to me,” said Clarence Cox, the former head of security for the county school system who was one of four challengers against Sheriff Victor Hill. “I thought it was odd that so many absentee ballots were cast when the turnout for the primaries were so low. I’m disappointed if there were some improprieties. I’m sick of Clayton always being in the middle of some controversy. If it’s something that was deliberate or a mistake, it’s time for us to get it right in Clayton. Taxpayers and citizens deserve better.”
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