Atlanta Progressive News

(APN) ATLANTA — Mary Norwood has requested a recount in the Mayoral Run-off Election in which Kasim Reed is currently leading by 715 votes, less than 1%. Previously, APN reported Reed’s vote lead was a bit lower, but that was before all the provisional ballots were counted.

The recount will take place tomorrow, Wednesday, December 09, 2009. Once the results of the recount are announced, Norwood or Reed would have five days in which to file a contest of the election, one supporter of Norwood’s, who asked not to be named in this article, told Atlanta Progressive News.

Atlanta Progressive News obtained a copy of the recount request; the initial reply from Fulton County; a request for information from the Norwood Campaign to Fulton County; and a copy of a letter from Norwood supporters to the Secretary of State’s Office.

Specifically, a group of Norwood supporters who have called themselves Citizens for Fair Atlanta Elections (CFFAE) have filed a request for an investigation with Secretary of State Karen Handel’s office, alleging that over 1,300 people voted in the General Election [and probably others in the Run-off] from addresses which no longer have dwellings on them.

Handel’s office has said that they are investigating the issue and have made it a top priority.

Two of the lead organizers of CFFAE, an ad hoc group of Norwood supporters, are Erica Long, the wife of State Rep. Ralph Long; and Katie Phelps. Erica Long did not immediately return several messages seeking comment.

Maceo Williams, an Atlanta activist and Norwood supporter, told APN that he made a records request to the Secretary of State’s office for the list of voters who voted in the General Election. Williams obtained that list on CD and paid the SOS office for it.

He then later found that numerous voters were listed with addresses from the various Atlanta Housing Authority public housing communities which have been emptied out and/or demolished over the last two years. Those voters were supposed to have notified the County of their new address within 30 days of moving, Williams said.

Williams turned the information over to CFFAE, who in turn sent an investigation request to Handel.

Norwood told APN that she thought it was great that some of her supporters were getting so involved in the democratic process and referred APN to CFFAE for questions about reported election irregularities.

Norwood said that her campaign had requested information last Wednesday from Fulton County and that they were still waiting to receive some of the information.

Norwood added that after this experience she believes “there needs to be a paper trail” for all Georgia elections and says no matter what the result of the recount, she plans to stay involved in Atlanta politics and civic life.

NORWOOD SUPPORTERS LETTER TO HANDEL

“Based on our review of publicly available information about the November 3, 2009 City of Atlanta General Election, it has come to our attention that a significant number of votes, 1,314, were cast from addresses that no longer exist. This may have implications to the election results of December 1, 2009 if similar patterns existed and if individuals voting from these non-existing addresses do not in fact reside in the City of Atlanta,” the CFFAE wrote in a letter to Handel dated November 07, 2009.

“The purpose of this complaint is to request 1) that an expedited voter file with matching current house number and street name be produced for the December 1st election and be made available and 2) that an expedited review of the December 1st election be conducted to determine if voters from non-existing or unoccupied addresses were in fact eligible to vote,” CFFAE wrote.

“Further, we request that a comprehensive review is conducted by the Office of the Secretary of State Division of Elections to determine the scope and magnitude of voting from non-existing or unoccupied addresses. Your office’s review would incorporate the latest and most updated voter information,” CFFAE wrote.

“As concerned citizens, we have conducted research based on reports that individuals voting in the November 3rd election no longer lived at the addresses from which they voted. Included with this letter is a preliminary listing of addresses for residential buildings that no longer exist, but were used as the voting addresses for the aforementioned 1,314 voters. This list was developed for the purposes of cross-referencing and identifying the associated voter registration identification numbers,” CFFAE wrote.

“The analysis of the November 3, 2009 general election results is based on review of data files provided by the Center for Election Systems at Kennesaw State University (KSU) to the Fulton County Board of Elections and the Georgia Secretary of State’s Election Division. It is our understanding that the data file provided by KSU was released on or about November 15, 2009,” CFFAE wrote.

“Assuming the updated files provided by KSU to the Georgia Secretary of State Elections Division and the Fulton County Board of Elections were updated to reflect voter changes in address, the results of cross-referencing identify 1,314 potential voters that voted on November 3, 2009 from non-existing addresses,” CFFAE wrote.

RECOUNT REQUEST AND INITIAL REPLY

“Pursuant to OCGA 21-2-495(c), I hereby invoke my privilege for a recount in the City of Atlanta Run-Off Election of December 1, 2009. As you know, there were over 80,000 votes cast and the difference between myself and the other candidate for mayor was less than 1%,” Norwood wrote in the recount request sent to Barry Garner and Maxine Daniels of Fulton and Dekalb Counties’ Registration and Elections.

“This letter is official notification of the receipt of your request for a recount of the votes cast for the Office of Mayor from the City of Atlanta General Municipal Election held on Tuesday, December 1, 2009,” Garner wrote in his response to Norwood.

“The Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections has ordered the recount, which is scheduled for Wednesday, December 9, 2009 at 10:00 a.m. at the Fulton County Elections Preparedness Center, 1365 English St., N.W., Atlanta Georgia 30318. You or your designee may be present at the recount. This recount is granted in accordance with Georgia Election Code Section 21-2-495(c),” Garner wrote.

REED CAMPAIGN LASHES OUT AT NORWOOD

In a press conference today, Reed’s lead attorney, Robert Highsmith, lashed out at Norwood. Highsmith is an attorney at Reed’s former firm, Holland & Knight, where Reed served as a corporate attorney.

“Why wait until the last possible moment to ask for the recount when the citizens of Atlanta deserve finality and they deserve to have a mayor that is focused on governing and moving forward?” Highsmith asked.

However, Norwood had requested information from Fulton County on December 03, and wanted to receive as much information in response as she could, prior to requesting the recount.

Highsmith also referred to the complaint to Handel’s office, stating, “To continue with these baseless allegations is irresponsible. It is destructive. It is disruptive and it needs to stop.”

“What their request said was that 1,314 people voted in this election that shouldn’t have… Before you look at whether these people are eligible to vote, only 33 of them actually voted,” Highsmith said.

To be sure, Garner told other media outlets over the last two days that only 33 of the alleged voters actually voted; however, it is not clear what Garner bases that figure on.

Even if it turned out that only 33 voters voted, that would raise the question why the KSU/SOS list would report over 40 times that amount.

“Our review of the facts of this election have conclusively determined those allegations to be false… It is nowhere near a number that would call the results of this election into doubt, and that’s why this needs to stop now. The divisiveness needs to stop, the irresponsibility needs to stop, and the City of Atlanta needs to move forward,” Highsmith said.

Reed spokesman Reese McCranie told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper that Norwood had encouraged her supporters to file the complaint, although there is no evidence to support this claim, and Norwood has maintained since last week that her supporters had started a separate effort.

INFORMATION REQUESTED BY NORWOOD

Norwood–not the CFFAE, but Norwood–also requested the following information in a letter to Garner on December 03, 2009: “Poll Manager Reconciliation Reports; Voter Certificates/ Affidavits for Each Precinct; Total Number of Voided Absentee Ballots, i.e. affidavits filed by voters who chose to vote in person rather than by mail; Number of Duplicate Absentee Ballots Issued; A Review of All Rejected Absentee Ballots; Number of Absentee Ballots Issued and Not Returned; Number of Absentee Ballots Received by the County After the Closing of the Polls; A List of All Voters Who Voted in the Run-Off Election (by Precinct if Possible); Any Reports that Absentee Ballots Lacked Candidates’ Names; Any Report That One Registered May be Registered in Duplicate and has Two Voter ID Numbers; Any Report, Telephone Message, or E-Mail of Any Voting Irregularity.”

RECOUNT CONSIDERATIONS

Garland Favorito of VoterGA, a group which seeks elections integrity in Georgia by demanding a voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) for all E-voting in Georgia, has prepared a list of questions all candidates should ask in a recount until the VVPAT is established.

Previously, Favorito told APN in a previous article that while it is impossible to know whether E-voting machines totals ever truly reflect the original votes without the VVPAT, there are still important steps candidates can take to ensure elections integrity in a close or contested election.

“Ensure that the chain of custody is properly established for all cards that are re-accumulated by sourcing the signed and sealed envelopes back to the precinct from where they came,” Favorito wrote.

“Verify that each card has a positive number of votes to ensure that no dummy negative votes were entered to offset valid positive votes,” Favorito wrote.

“Verify that the votes on each card match the original paper tape count that was generated in the precinct to ensure that no new errors were introduced during re-accumulation,” Favorito wrote.

“Verify that all numbers of votes cast match the original number of voters who checked in for each precinct to ensure that no test votes were included in the original or re-accumulated results,” Favorito wrote.

“Verify that all precinct vote totals were incorporated correctly into the original and re-accumulated county totals to ensure that the actual results were not altered at the county level,” Favorito wrote.

“Recount all absentee ballots by hand to ensure that there are no errors in the absentee ballot tabulators,” Favorito wrote.

“If there are large amounts of unqualified voters in a precinct that went heavily for the opponent, file suit to demand that the vote counts for each candidate be reduced proportionally by the percentage of unqualified ballots,” Favorito wrote.

About the author:

Matthew Cardinale is the News Editor for Atlanta Progressive News and is reachable at matthew@atlantaprogressivenews.com.

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