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Georgia Asks For FBI’s Help In Criminal Investigation On Breach Of Voting Equipment

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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.


Georgia has reached out to the FBI to help with a criminal investigation into what it called a breach of its election system in one county.

The Georgia State Elections Board said on Wednesday that it wanted the FBI to aid in the investigation into the breach of voting equipment in Coffee County, KRDO reported.

“The conduct in Coffee County is similar to conduct in Antrim County, Michigan, and Clark County, Nevada,” William Duffey Jr., the chair of the board, said.

The Georgia elections board also revealed it is investigating communications between local election officials in a second Georgia county and SullivanStrickler — the same cybersecurity firm hired by attorneys working for former President Donald Trump to access voting systems in Coffee County in January 2021.

The board has received documents that include an “unexecuted engagement agreement” for SullivanStrickler to forensically image voting systems in Spalding County, Georgia, Duffey said.

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The move represents an escalation by state investigators in Georgia, raising new questions about whether the same group of individuals involved in the Coffee County breach sought access to voting systems in other parts of the state as well.

Duffey said it remains unclear why Spalding County was interested in having SullivanStrickler conduct this kind of work but that the board is investigating whether there is any link to what happened in Coffee County. It is also unclear if voting systems in Spalding County were breached.

Duffey noted that he has asked for an update from the FBI regarding the status of its participation in the state-level Georgia probe related to Coffee County but does not yet know what the bureau is doing, if anything, at this time.

Meanwhile a volunteer election worker in Michigan has been charged with two felony charges after allegedly inserting a personal USB drive into a precinct computer during the Aug. 2 primary.

Kent County prosecutor Chris Becker announced he charged James Donald Holkeboer with falsifying election records and using a computer to commit a crime in the incident, Reuters reported.

If convicted of the charges, he could face up to nine years in prison.

“The incident highlights the so-called “insider threat” risk that has increasingly worried election officials, especially in battleground states like Michigan where falsehoods about systemic voter fraud in the 2020 election have spread most widely,” Reuters reported.

“The election worker was seen by a witness at a precinct in Gaines Township inserting a USB drive into the Electronic Poll Book, the computer used to administer the election. The poll book contains voter registration data, including confidential information barred from release under Michigan laws,” Reuters added.

“Lyons said the breach did not impact the outcome of the August primary as it occurred after the files had already been saved to the precinct’s encrypted system. She said the poll book is not connected to any tabulation equipment or the internet,” the report continued. “There have been a series of security breaches related to voting equipment in Michigan following the 2020 presidential election, with supporters of former President Donald Trump and his baseless claims about widespread voter fraud seeking access to tabulators in various locations in the state.”

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Earlier this week, a former Pennsylvania Democrat congressman was sentenced to 30 months in prison after committing fraud favoring Democratic candidates.

The Eastern District of Pennsylvania’s U.S. Attorney’s Office announced that Michael “Ozzie” Myers pleaded guilty to conspiring to illegally vote in a federal election and deprive civil rights, voting records falsification, bribery, obstruction of justice, and orchestrating ballot-stuffing schemes in Pennsylvania’s 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 elections.

Myers served in the U.S. House from 1976 to 1980 before being expelled for bribery. He was sent to prison for three years after the FBI launched an investigation into him.

Myers bribed then-Philadelphia election Judge Domenick J. Demuro to stuff ballots in support of specific candidates, according to a 2020 indictment. Demuro pleaded guilty that year.

Myer also confessed to election fraud conspiracy with former Philadelphia election judge Marie Beren, who pleaded guilty in October 2021.

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