Georgia officials still without docs for securing dropbox ballots, with runoff election weeks away

Officials in Georgia have yet to produce documents to establish the chain of custody for roughly 83 percent of the estimated 600,000 absentee ballots placed in drop boxes during the Nov. 3 elections – with voting for the two Senate runoff elections less than a month away.

The ballots placed in the drop boxes by voters are then delivered to county election officials by county poll workers. But state and county officials still have not produced the documents to show the clear chain of custody, according to the Georgia State News. 

The office of Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger told Breitbart News two weeks after the November elections that it did not know how many of the 1.3 million absentee ballots cast in the 2020 general election – out of total 5 million – were delivered by mail vs. dropbox but that counties should know.

A poll of likely Georgia voters conducted last week found 26 percent of respondents said that they voted by absentee ballot – 14 percent by mail and 12 percent by depositing their absentee ballots in drop boxes. 

Twelve percent of the 5 million votes cast equals 600,000 absentee ballots deposited in drop boxes.

According to the Georgia Election Code Emergency Rule approved by State Election Board on July 1, 2020, every county is responsible for documenting the transfer of every batch of absentee ballots picked up at drop boxes and delivered to the county election offices with ballot transfer forms, signed, dated, with time of pick up by the collection team upon pick up, and then signed, dated, with time of delivery by the registrar or designee upon receipt and accepted, Georgia State News also reports.

Ballot for the two runoff races in Georgia is Jan. 5, and the outcomes will determine whether Democrats or Republicans control the chamber.