In Court Filing, Ga. Election Officials Accused Of Destroying Evidence

Secretary of state’s office spokeswoman Tess Hammock said allegations accusing Georgia election officials of destroying evidence are false. Georgia’s voting system drew national scrutiny last year during the closely watched governor’s race in which Brian Kemp, a Republican who was the state’s top election official at the time, narrowly defeated Democrat Stacey Abrams.

Mike Stewart / Associated Press file

Georgia election officials repeatedly and intentionally destroyed evidence that could show unauthorized access to state election infrastructure and potential manipulation of election results, according to a federal court filing.

Election integrity advocates and individual Georgia voters sued election officials in 2017 alleging that the touchscreen voting machines Georgia has used since 2002 are unsecure and vulnerable to hacking. In a court filing Thursday, they said state officials began destroying evidence within days of the suit’s filing and continued to do so as the case moved forward.

“The evidence strongly suggests that the State’s amateurish protection of critical election infrastructure placed Georgia’s election system at risk, and the State Defendants now appear to be desperate to cover-up the effects of their misfeasance — to the point of destroying evidence,” the filing says.