As the votes are counted in Georgia, some are claiming potential voter fraud without evidence.
In response to a records request, on Oct 6, we received a cover letter from the Glynn County Elections Supervisor who wrote ‘‘There is NOT a wide spread case of Voter Fraud happening.”
We requested records regarding Georgia’s voter fraud task force. The response included an October 6 cover letter from Glynn County Elections Supervisor Chris Channell, a member of the state’s voter fraud task force. americanoversight.org/georgia-offici…
Channell wrote, ‘‘There is NOT a wide spread case of Voter Fraud happening” and said he “sent an email to a few supervisors to see if they had any concerns on Absentee Voter Fraud,” and that “None of them had “indicated there was any concern of absentee ballot voter fraud.”
Channell elaborated: “Signature mismatch is probably the biggest concern for local election officials. Signatures change over time. We [tried] matching a signature from a voter today to Voter registration cards from the 60s and 70s.”
Those statements are in marked contrast to Georgia Sec. of State Raffensperger’s previous claims concerning the prevalence of voter fraud in Georgia’s primary.
President Trump is following the same playbook he has for months: undermining and discrediting mail-in voting.
Here’s an overview of how the president has undermined voting by mail during a global pandemic, and how we’ve been investigating.
In April, the White House threatened to veto the CARES Act if it contained funding to ensure USPS’s stability. Many predicted USPS would be especially important in the election as more voters would vote by mail during the pandemic. washingtonpost.com/business/2020/…
That same month, Trump said "Republicans should fight very hard" against attempts to increase access to vote-by-mail. americanoversight.org/news-roundup-p…
In September, HHS awarded Fors Marsh a $250 million contract to “defeat despair & inspire hope” about the pandemic. The political appointee who managed the ad campaign privately pitched the campaign: “Helping the President will Help the Country.” politico.com/news/2020/10/2…
Last month, lawmakers launched an investigation into the contract with the PR firm Fors Marsh over questions about the political motivations behind the campaign. politico.com/news/2020/09/1…
Contracts for similar morale-boosting campaigns were also awarded to the communications companies Atlas Research and DD&T (the latter is run by Den Tolmor, a former client of former HHS official Michael Caputo). politico.com/news/2020/09/2…
NBC documented how Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has mixed personal and official business. We’ve been investigating the email practices of Sec. Pompeo, as well as his use of agency resources for personal benefit. nbcnews.com/politics/natio…
Last week, we released 400 pages of personal emails from Pompeo’s tenure as CIA director, including multiple work-related exchanges with Susan Pompeo. In one email, she offered thoughts on detailed messaging for Pompeo’s workforce engagement events. americanoversight.org/pompeos-use-of…
We’re suing to shed light on Susan Pompeo’s role in State activities, too. Mrs. Pompeo has taken an active role in State business, including arranging Madison dinners with influential figures & traveling with Sec. Pompeo during the government shutdown. americanoversight.org/document/compl…
Through FOIA, we obtained a spreadsheet of voicemails generated by an automatic system at the Office of Refugee Resettlement about unaccompanied children. The records include complaints that attorneys were denied visits to see their detained clients.
An attorney for Texas Disability Rights told then-ORR Director John Hayes, “Staff was denied visit to Casa Franklin in El Paso.” americanoversight.org/document/hhs-r…
The Legal Director of Arizona Center for Disability Law left Hayes a voicemail and said that they were denied access to interview 3 people.
New: Documents from Washington State during the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic reveal confusion and poor coordination on the part of federal agencies, leaving local public health officials scrambling to address the crisis. americanoversight.org/more-documents…
One point of confusion was President Donald Trump’s Jan. 31 travel ban that denied entry to any non-American citizens coming from mainland China. Emails show some health workers wanted “more clarity around the new guidelines.” beta.documentcloud.org/documents/2040…
By the end of February, federal and state officials faced coordination issues. State officials struggled to get info about how the CDC planned to transport non-residents who had tested positive back to their home states, and had to repeatedly send information to CDC officials.
Covid-19 has impacted the economy, workforce, democratic processes, and so much more. How has the government responded to these challenges?
For #FOIAFriday, here’s a review of some of our latest FOIAs that could shed light on the federal government’s pandemic response.
Earlier this month, North Carolina elections officials reportedly received an email from a Trump campaign operative advising them to “not follow the procedures” of a new state rule regarding vote processing. apnews.com/article/virus-…
We want to know whether similar instances have occurred in other states and filed related records requests to counties in Florida, Georgia, Montana, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin. americanoversight.org/documents?fwp_….