‘A desperation move’: Georgia judge’s ruling will delay election audit in Fulton County

After an audit of last year’s presidential election results in Maricopa County, Arizona, drew nationwide coverage, a county in Georgia is pushing to launch a thorough review of its own.

According to recent reports, however, a judge is pumping the brakes on an audit of mail-in ballots cast in Fulton County during November’s election.

Courting controversy

Months after the county became a central focus of claims that election fraud and irregularities played a role in President Joe Biden’s victory, local officials hoped to continue investigating the matter.

Judge Brian Amero, however, handed down his ruling on Thursday that delayed a meeting scheduled for the following day to discuss ballot inspections. As the Epoch Times noted, authorities in the Democratic-leaning county intervened to preemptively halt the audit.

In his ruling, Amero proposed a June 21 hearing to discuss motions he insisted must be heard before petitioners can access the requested ballots.

The judge upset some county officials — particularly critics of the GOP-led effort to review the race — when he agreed last week to unseal about 147,000 ballots and grant petitioners access to a warehouse where they are being stored. Petitioners were not granted direct access, however, and complained that the low-resolution images they were given were difficult to read.

Garland Favorito, who is leading the audit effort, alleged that officials are likely afraid about what a thorough review will uncover.

“Another layer of transparency”

“It seems like a desperation move,” he said. “The silver lining is that we now have more time to perfect the changes we had to make in our inspection plan.”

Of course, officials like Fulton County Chairman Robb Pitts are portraying the petition as an attempt to sow false doubt about Biden’s legitimacy as commander in chief.

“It is outrageous that Fulton County continues to be a target of those who cannot accept the results from last year’s election,” he declared.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, however, welcomed the audit despite his earlier insistence that Biden won the state election fairly.

“Fulton County has a long-standing history of election mismanagement that has understandably weakened voters’ faith in its system. Allowing this audit provides another layer of transparency and citizen engagement,” he said.

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