{"id":2328152,"date":"2024-08-21T06:53:01","date_gmt":"2024-08-21T10:53:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/did-brad-raffensperger-break-the-law-during-the-2020-election\/"},"modified":"2024-08-21T06:56:52","modified_gmt":"2024-08-21T10:56:52","slug":"did-brad-raffensperger-break-the-law-during-the-2020-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/did-brad-raffensperger-break-the-law-during-the-2020-election\/","title":{"rendered":"Did Brad Raffensperger Break The Law During The 2020 Election?"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdid-brad-raffensperger-break-the-law-during-the-2020-election%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2328152&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article discusses the controversies surrounding changes to election processes and laws in\u2062 Georgia\u200d during the lead-up to the 2020 presidential election, which some have labeled the &#8220;most secure&#8221; \u2063in history. Critics argue that the rushed modifications, made under the guise of a public health emergency due to Covid-19, were\u2064 not only unnecessary but may have \u200cbeen \u200dillegal. <\/p>\n<p>Specifically, in May 2020, the Georgia state election board approved a rule allowing \u2063counties to open and scan absentee ballots up to three weeks before\u200b Election Day. This\u2064 change was supported by Georgia&#8217;s Secretary of State,\u2063 Brad Raffensperger, who argued it was essential for timely election results, given the increase in absentee ballots. However, \u2063a\u200b legal claim by Georgia voter\u200b Tim Adderholdt \u2063contends that this rule conflicted with a long-standing\u2062 state law requiring\u200c absentee ballots\u2064 to be kept unopened until polls closed.<\/p>\n<p>Adderholdt&#8217;s legal battles began\u2062 in late 2020, seeking to prevent counties from processing ballots early, which he argued violated state law. His <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/heres-how-biden-defied-the-supreme-court-to-cancel-144-billion-in-student-loans\/\" title=\"Discover how President Biden challenged the Supreme Court&#039;s decision by canceling 4 billion in student loans\">efforts faced legal challenges<\/a>, including a court ruling that found the early\u2062 ballot \u200drule had expired but ultimately dismissed his case\u2063 as moot due to subsequent legislation changing the law.\u2063 Despite these developments,\u200d the issue remains contentious, with Adderholdt continuing to pursue \u2062legal action regarding the matter.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The people who called the 2020 election the &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/top-officials-elections-most-secure-66f9361084ccbc461e3bbf42861057a5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">most secure<\/a>&rdquo; in history have spent the past several years slandering as &ldquo;election deniers&rdquo; anyone who questions that election&rsquo;s administration. But others remain frustrated by the many last-minute changes to election laws and processes that occurred shortly before that presidential contest &mdash; changes that in some cases may have been illegal. <\/p>\n<p>In Georgia, the state election board unanimously adopted a <a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1GAcwaC-_w0PEfWXywDa4p_4x5wXZFU0v\/view?usp=drive_link\">rule<\/a> change in May 2020, citing Covid-19. It allowed counties to open and scan absentee ballots up to three weeks before the November 2020 general election and several other elections in the 2020 election cycle.<\/p>\n<p>Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nga.org\/coronavirus-state-actions\/georgia\/\">declared<\/a> a public health state of emergency on March 13, 2020, and called for a special session of the general assembly to ratify this action through a joint resolution, which the legislature <a href=\"https:\/\/law.justia.com\/codes\/georgia\/2010\/title-38\/chapter-3\/article-3\/part-1\/38-3-51\">approved<\/a>. Then. in a move that remains controversial, Secretary of State Raffensperger <a href=\"https:\/\/sos.ga.gov\/news\/raffensperger-takes-unprecedented-steps-protect-safety-and-voter-integrity-georgia\">announced<\/a> on March 24, 2020, that he would be &ldquo;mailing absentee ballot request forms to every Georgia voter,&rdquo; a number he placed at 6.9 million. <\/p>\n<h2>Emergency Rule Approved<\/h2>\n<p>During a May 18, 2020, state election board <a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1fipHBj7Kl0YMCp6NTpRt0pZUT4DSD9v_\/view?usp=drive_link\">meeting<\/a>, Raffensperger&rsquo;s General Counsel Ryan Germany argued in favor of the proposed rule change. He told the board that 1.<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mi-judge-shuts-down-lax-ballot-signature-guidance-for-good\/\" title=\"MI Judge Shuts Down Lax Ballot Signature Guidance For Good\">4 million absentee ballot applications<\/a> had been accepted, most had already been delivered, and 360,000 had already been returned to election officials.<\/p>\n<p><em>&ldquo;<\/em>I think the last presidential preference primary, general primary, there was 36,000 total absentee vote-by-mail ballots cast in the entire election. So we&rsquo;re already at well above that in orders of magnitude,&rdquo; according to Germany.<\/p>\n<p>Summarizing his argument for the emergency rule, Germany said, &ldquo;With this many absentee ballots coming in, if there is going to be a way to get results any time quickly after the election, we think we need to allow counties to start processing these absentee ballots early.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>After a brief discussion by the board, the rule passed unanimously, and the meeting adjourned.<\/p>\n<h2>Violating the Law?<\/h2>\n<p>But the passage of that rule by the board, which was chaired by Raffensperger at the time, violated a Georgia statute requiring absentee ballots to be kept &ldquo;safely, unopened, and stored,&rdquo; a legal filing by Georgia voter Tim Adderholdt argues. Adderholdt cites <a href=\"https:\/\/law.justia.com\/codes\/georgia\/2022\/title-21\/chapter-2\/article-10\/section-21-2-386\/\">OCGA 21-2-386<\/a>, claiming that for 97 years, from 1924 until the law was amended in March 2021 by the passage of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legis.ga.gov\/api\/legislation\/document\/20212022\/201498\">SB202<\/a>, the law required that:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The board of registrars or absentee ballot clerk shall keep safely, unopened, and stored in a manner that will prevent tampering and unauthorized access all official absentee ballots received from absentee electors prior to the closing of the polls<em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>He also cites a June 26, 1980, opinion of the Georgia attorney general on the law, which confirmed that, <a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1pNLc84rxyUUD38pvEI6u8hpR92jJDIqP\/view?usp=drive_link\">stating<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>This is in response to your recent request for my opinion on whether a board of registrars may open envelopes containing absentee ballots prior to the closing of the polls, in the interest of expediting the counting of absentee ballots.<\/p>\n<p>In my opinion, the mandatory language of [the relevant statute] forecloses all discussion of the matter. The board of registrars must keep the envelopes safe and unopened until after the closing of the polls.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>When asked for comment, Mike Hassinger, public information officer for the secretary of state responded: &ldquo;We can&rsquo;t comment on any pending litigation or legal matters.&rdquo; <\/p>\n<p>Adderholdt told me that if the board had relied on some unspecified emergency power when it adopted the rule, he had not yet heard that argument in any of the legal proceedings. Those began in December 2020, when Adderholdt filed a complaint in the superior court in Cherokee County, where he lives, to prevent the county from opening and scanning ballots ahead of the January 2021 U.S. Senate runoff.<\/p>\n<p>Following the election, that court <a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1zgFZiBAve3VWh2K1DJP9SeGdonIqrHF_\/view?usp=drive_link\">found<\/a> that the county had &ldquo;opened the ballots pursuant to State Election Board Emergency Rule 183-1-14-.09-.15,&rdquo; which &ldquo;expired January 5, 2021,&rdquo; but dismissed the suit, stating the passage of SB 202 had rendered the case moot.<\/p>\n<p>Armed with that finding of fact, Adderholdt, who for more than three years had represented himself, lodged his criminal <a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/15uWVaMQNFcUWHBit5XqLyWBFW2WIQndu\/view?usp=drive_link\">complaint<\/a> in magistrate court. When that court ruled that it did not have the &ldquo;authority to decide&rdquo; the legality of the rule, Adderholdt retained criminal attorney and candidate for the Georgia House of Representatives Catherine Bernard to <a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/19X6jHinBpVFYVCijRSQoDUHchAE1BA7s\/view?usp=drive_link\">appeal<\/a> the decision to the Cherokee County Superior Court.<\/p>\n<h2>Voters Deserve to Know if the Law was Violated<\/h2>\n<p>Another Georgia attorney, Harry Macdougald, says the emergency powers given to Kemp in the name of Covid did not extend to the secretary of state or the state election board, and that:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>As a basic matter of administrative law, regulations may not contradict the statutes under which they are promulgated. The rule-making authority granted by O.C.G.A. &sect; 21-2-31(2) requires that the rules be consistent with law. The regulation for early opening and scanning of absentee ballots was plainly contrary to the statute governing the handling of absentee ballots and therefore clearly unlawful.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Adderholdt has accused Raffensperger of three criminal offenses: &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/law.justia.com\/codes\/georgia\/title-16\/chapter-10\/article-1\/section-16-10-1\/\">Violation of oath by a public officer<\/a>,&rdquo; &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/law.justia.com\/codes\/georgia\/2020\/title-16\/chapter-10\/article-2\/section-16-10-20\/\">false statements and writings<\/a>,&rdquo; and &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/law.justia.com\/codes\/georgia\/2022\/title-16\/chapter-4\/section-16-4-7\/\">criminal solicitation<\/a>.&rdquo; If probable cause of such violations were to be found, the court could theoretically grant an arrest warrant against the secretary of state.<\/p>\n<p>Whatever the outcome of Adderholdt&rsquo;s case, Georgia voters deserve to know whether Raffensperger, the state election board, and county boards of election violated the law in the 2020 election.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Mark Davis is president of Data Productions, Inc., and has been working with voter data since 1986. He has been qualified and admitted to testify as an expert witness on voter data analytics and residency issues in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/georgia-only-goes-after-elected-republicans-election-fraud\/\" title=\"Georgia Only Goes After Elected Republicans&#039; Election Fraud\">court cases involving disputed elections<\/a> five times over the last 20 years. Follow him @MarkDavisGOP.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Those who labeled the 2020 election as the &#8220;most secure&#8221; in history have spent years disparaging anyone who questions its administration as &#8220;election deniers.&#8221; However, many individuals are still frustrated by the numerous last-minute alterations to election laws and procedures that took place just before the presidential election\u2014some of which may have been illegal. <\/p>\n<p>In Georgia, for instance, the state election board unanimously approved a rule change in May 2020 due to Covid-19. This change permitted counties to open and scan absentee ballots up to three weeks prior to the November 2020 general election and other elections during that cycle. On March 13, 2020, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp declared a public health emergency and called for a special session of the legislature to ratify this decision through a joint resolution, which was subsequently approved. Then, on March 24, Secretary of State Raffensperger announced he would be sending absentee ballot request forms to every voter in Georgia\u2014a total he estimated at around 6.9 million.<\/p>\n<p>During a meeting on May 18, 2020, Raffensperger&#8217;s General Counsel Ryan Germany advocated for this rule change by noting that they had already accepted over one million absentee ballot applications; most had been delivered with about 360,000 returned by voters. He pointed out that previous elections saw only about 36,000 absentee ballots cast altogether but emphasized that they were already far exceeding those numbers.<\/p>\n<p>Germany summarized his case for early processing of absentee ballots by stating that with such high volumes coming in, it was essential for counties to begin processing them early if results were expected promptly after Election Day. The board quickly passed this rule unanimously.<\/p>\n<p>However, critics argue that this action violated Georgia law requiring absentee ballots be kept &#8220;safely unopened,&#8221; according to legal filings from voter Tim Adderholdt. He cites OCGA \u00a721-2-386 and notes an opinion from June 26,1980 from the Georgia attorney general affirming that envelopes containing absentee ballots must remain unopened until polls close.<\/p>\n<p>When approached for comment regarding these allegations against Raffensperger&#8217;s actions during his tenure as chair of the board at that time when it passed said rule changes Mike Hassinger stated: \u201cWe can\u2019t comment on any pending litigation or legal matters.\u201d Adderholdt mentioned he hadn\u2019t heard any arguments supporting an emergency power justification used when adopting these rules throughout ongoing legal proceedings initiated back in December of last year aimed at preventing similar actions ahead of January\u2019s U.S Senate runoff elections.<\/p>\n<p>Afterward findings indicated county officials opened ballots under State Election Board Emergency Rule but dismissed claims based upon SB202 rendering them moot; Adderholdt then filed criminal complaints against Raffensperger alleging violations including \u201cViolation Of Oath By A Public Officer,\u201d \u201cFalse Statements And Writings,\u201d among others\u2014potentially leading courts towards issuing arrest warrants should probable cause arise surrounding these accusations made against him personally or others involved within their respective roles overseeing electoral processes during said period leading up towards November\u2019s vote count itself!<\/p>\n<p>Regardless how things unfold moving forward concerning Adderholt\u2019s case specifically\u2014it remains crucial voters across Georgia understand whether there were indeed breaches committed regarding established laws governing conduct surrounding handling such sensitive materials like Absentee Ballots throughout past elections held within state boundaries! <\/p>\n<p>Mark Davis is president of Data Productions Inc., having worked extensively with voter data since \u201986 while also being qualified expert witness testifying multiple times over two decades related disputes involving contested electoral outcomes! Follow him @MarkDavisGOP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2711,"featured_media":2328153,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/52530694819_2ae9ba99d6_k-e1724035570149.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[32675,38776,33739],"class_list":["post-2328152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","tag-2020-election","tag-brad-raffensperger","tag-election-law"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/52530694819_2ae9ba99d6_k-e1724035570149.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2328152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2711"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2328152"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2328152\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2328153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2328152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2328152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2328152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}