Fulton County officials acknowledged that required certification procedures were not completed for hundreds of thousands of ballots during the 2020 election.
By SHR Media
The debate over the 2020 election is often derailed by a single deflection: “There’s no proof of fraud.”
That argument is irrelevant to what Fulton County itself has now acknowledged.
Officials representing Fulton County spoke during proceedings before the Georgia State Election Board. They did not dispute a failure to follow required election procedures. These procedural lapses affected a large number of ballots in the2020 election.
The issue is not fraud.
The issue is legality.
What Fulton County Acknowledged
At the hearing, evidence was presented showing that approximately 315,000 early-voting ballots were tabulated using unsigned tabulator tapes. Under Georgia election rules in effect at the time, poll workers had to sign the opening “zero tapes.” They also needed to sign the closing tally tapes for each voting machine.
Those signatures were not optional. They were part of the certification and chain-of-custody process required by law.
Fulton County’s legal representatives did not dispute that the signatures were missing. In plain terms, a mandatory statutory step was not completed.
Why “No Fraud” Is the Wrong Standard
Much of the media response has focused on whether the ballots were proven fraudulent. That framing misunderstands how election law works.
Elections are not validated by outcomes, intentions, or later audits. They are governed by statute. When the law requires specific steps as conditions for lawful certification, failure to finish those steps renders the process defective.
This principle is well established across U.S. law:
- An unsigned warrant is invalid.
- An unsworn affidavit is defective.
- A broken chain of custody undermines admissibility.
- A required certification step can’t be skipped after the fact.
Fraud is a separate legal question. A process can be unlawful even if no fraud is alleged or proven.
Certification Is Not a Technicality
The missing signatures were not clerical trivia. They were part of the mechanism that ensures votes are lawfully counted and properly verified.
Certification is a condition precedent. If the condition is not met, the legal authority to count and certify the ballots does not exist. Administrative convenience or post-hoc justification does not cure that defect.
Courts often decline to intervene after elections for institutional reasons. They also avoid it for procedural reasons. Nonetheless, judicial reluctance does not retroactively legalize an unlawful process.
The Core Question That Keeps Being Avoided
The correct legal question is not:
“Did the ballots change the outcome?”
It is:
“Were the legally required steps completed before certification?”
Fulton County’s own acknowledgment answers that question.
They were not.
Why This Still Matters
This is not about relitigating the 2020 outcome. It examines if election laws mean what they say. It also considers whether these laws are treated as optional when compliance becomes inconvenient.
If statutory requirements can be ignored without consequence, then election law is no longer law. It becomes a suggestion.
Rule of law either applies consistently, or it does not apply at all.
And by Fulton County’s own admission, the law was not followed.
(All information verified through public records, campaign announcements, and reporting from the actual outlets, public records, or documents cited in the article.)
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Sources
- Georgia State Election Board Hearing Records
Public testimony and proceedings addressing Fulton County election administration and compliance issues. - Fulton County Election Operations Statements
Admissions made by county representatives during State Election Board proceedings regarding unsigned tabulator tapes. - The Federalist
“Fulton County: ‘We Don’t Dispute’ 315,000 Votes Lacked Required Poll Worker Signatures in 2020”
Reporting on the Election Board hearing and Fulton County’s acknowledgment of missing signatures. - Georgia Secretary of State – Election Procedures Manual (2020)
Official rules were in effect during the 2020 election. They required poll worker signatures on zero tapes and closing tabulation tapes. - Georgia Election Code (O.C.G.A. Title 21)
Statutory framework governing election certification, chain of custody, and mandatory procedural requirements. - Statewide Audit and Recount Documentation (2020)
Public records confirm a hand recount occurred. These records are cited for context about post-election review processes. They are not used as a cure for procedural defects.
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