Politics

All Of DeKalb County Election Results Under Investigation

November 6th, 2015

The first complaints about voting in DeKalb County Tuesday were related to the LaVista Hills cityhood referendum. But now the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office is investigating all the balloting and has called in the GBI to help.

Georgia’s Secretary of State has now called the Georgia Bureau of Investigation in to help probe all of Tuesday’s election results in DeKalb County.

Even before the polls closed Tuesday, there were complaints about some people not getting the proper ballots for the LaVista Hills cityhood referendum. Thursday, the Secretary of State’s Office said it was investigating that vote.

But today, Secretary of State Brian Kemp said there are more complaints, and they do not all involve the LaVista Hills vote.

“Some of these allegations are very serious, to the felony level,” said Kemp. “Some of these allegations that are flying out there are not things that we normally see.”

Kemp says one of the allegations involves Elections Supervisor Leonard Piazza. According to Kemp, Piazza allegedly removed a memory card from a voting machine and took it out of the county elections office.

In addition to the GBI, Kemp says the elections center at Kennesaw State University, which supports the statewide voting system, will also provide forensic assistance in the investigation.

Kemp told WABE Friday he could not project how long the investigation might take. The DeKalb County Board of Registration and Elections was scheduled to certify Tuesday’s results on Friday afternoon. Kemp says those results will stand unless there is a legal challenge to them.

The DeKalb elections office issued a statement Friday that you can read below.

We recognize the seriousness of the allegations made and are cooperating fully with the Secretary of State’s Office as they [sic] investigate the claims made. We remain convinced that once the investigation is complete, the veracity of the November 2015 elections will be confirmed. Until the Secretary of State completes his investigation we have no further comment on this issue.