Fulton County

Did the Fulton County Board of Elections defy a judge's order to remove barriers that prevented credentialed Republican poll monitors from viewing absentee ballots in the Senate runoff election in Georgia? No, that's not true: In a January 6, 2021, email to Lead Stories, Richard Barron, director of the Fulton County Board of Elections and Registration, wrote that the board…

Did someone hack into the electronic voting system being used in Georgia for the January 5, 2020, U.S. Senate runoff races? No, Georgia election officials say that's not true: The digital poll book was not even in use on December 30, 2020, the day J. Hutton Pulitzer told lawmakers he had hacked his way into it. On two occasions since…

Were ballots used in Republican areas of Georgia different from ballots used in Democratic areas of the state, resulting in a rigged election? No, that's not true: A purported elections expert -- who the Georgia secretary of state's office described as a "failed treasure hunter" -- claimed that since ballots have a unique bar code for each precinct, that "caused…

Did Donald Trump literally beg the Georgia secretary of state to "invent" 11,000 votes? No, that's not true: The president did not utter "invent" during an hour-long phone call with Brad Raffensperger. To be clear, Trump repeatedly pressured Raffensperger to recalculate the vote in Georgia so that the state would flip in his favor -- he used the words "find"…

Did a pro-Trump "operative" uncover thousands of counterfeit November 2020 Fulton County ballots stored in an Atlanta warehouse? No, that's not true: Photos of boxes of ballots showed emergency paper ballots stored in the warehouse as back-ups in the event voting machines failed on election day. Election rules require each county to hold emergency ballots equal to at least 10%…

Does an advertising video titled "The Plot To Steal America" contain hard evidence of election fraud? No, that's not true: the 18-minute pitch contains allegations based on video clips purporting to show "evidence" but several of these clips do not actually show what is being claimed. The announcer repeats 11 already-debunked claims in the opening five minutes, then tells viewers…

Has Fulton County, Georgia, election worker Ruby Freeman been arrested for voter fraud? No, that's not true: A top official at the Georgia secretary of state's office, which is constitutionally in charge of investigating voter fraud allegations, told Lead Stories the claim is "completely false." The social media posts actually misidentify Freeman as the "blonde-braid woman" seen in security video…

Did Republican campaign staffers assigned to observe at the Fulton County, Georgia, vote counting center on election night swear under oath in affidavits that they were told to leave before the ballot counting ended on election night? No, that's not true: Republican field staff workers Michelle Branton and Mitchell Harrison related under oath what happened at the State Farm Arena…

Did a "pipe break" on Election Day force evacuation of the Fulton County, Georgia, vote-counting center at the same time that "totes full of ballots" were "dumped"? No, that's not true. A pipe leak in Atlanta's State Farm Arena happened "around 6 a.m." on Tuesday, November 3, 2020, and delayed the start of absentee ballot counting for about two hours,…

By Alan Duke and Hallie Golden Does security camera video show a Fulton County, Georgia, election supervisor suspiciously pulling suitcases filled with ballots from under a table after telling poll workers to leave the room? And did that election official continue to illegally count ballots without required monitors in a manner that calls into question Joe Biden's narrow win over…