‘These crooks will be caught for treason.’ Columbus school board candidate denied recount
A defeated Muscogee County School Board candidate who claimed on social media that Georgia would never have another fair election until Dominion voting machines are removed from the state will not get a manual hand recount or the “forensic audit” she requested, county election officials told the Ledger-Enquirer.
Sarah Smith, a candidate for Muscogee County School Board District 8, sent a letter to the Muscogee County Elections & Registration Office dated June 4.
In the letter, Smith wrote that flaws discovered with “Dominion Voting machines, its tabulators and the scan of QR codes on paper ballots” raised questions regarding election integrity in the May primary.
In addition to her recount and audit request, Smith also asked that the county election board “commit to correcting all errors in any races after certification and de-certify the current results if the results prove to be erroneous” for both local and state races.
When reached by phone, Smith told the Ledger-Enquirer that she believes there is a high probability that voting tallies were inaccurate, though she could provide no direct evidence of alleged fraud in Columbus.
“I’m not accusing anyone of anything,” Smith said. “I’m just saying ... any chance of there being a vulnerability or an inaccuracy is disparaging to the voter. ...I’m not throwing any accusations to anybody. I’m pretty sure they’re doing a good job in their positions.”
Smith’s comments to the Ledger-Enquirer stand in direct contrast to her posts on Facebook.
More than a week after the May election, Smith said in a June 2 Facebook post: “Georgia will never have another fair election again…. Not until these machines are gone. Now we know what the QR codes are for… Hopefully us voting provides enough information to the righteous ones looking so that these crooks will be caught for treason.”
In a post that same night, Smith also shared a link to a video alleging that Dominion voting machines were manipulated in DeKalb County.
County election officials denied Smith’s recount request on June 6. In a letter, director Nancy Boren said that a recount was not available under current election laws.
Under state law, a candidate can request a recount if the margin is less than or equal to 0.5%. That request has to be made within two business days of the results being certified.
Smith met neither of those requirements. She received only 41.82% of the votes in her loss to Margot Schley. Schley collected more than 58% of the ballots cast.
A federal or state office candidate can petition the Secretary of State for a recount if there is a suspected error or discrepancy. An election official can also request a recount under those circumstances.
Why did she challenge the results?
Smith told the Ledger-Enquirer that two things prompted her challenge.
The first is a report from a U.S. Cybersecurity agency that voting touchscreens used in Georgia have security vulnerabilities that put them at risk of hacking attacks. The second is a recount in the DeKalb County Commission’s District 2 race that changed the outcome of the election.
Officials with the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office and DeKalb County have denied that there was machine-based fraud, attributing the errors in the commission election to human errors, a candidate dropping out of the race at the last minute and a condensed time frame caused by redistricting delays. The state’s multiple check system, they said, worked.
“The system is designed to catch these things because of the most fallible part of the whole thing, which is the human being,” COO of the Secretary of State’s office Gabe Sterling told Axios.
The report from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency earlier this month also stated that there is no evidence that the voting touchscreen vulnerabilities have been exploited.
The report states that a person would need access to the individual machines and the Election Management System to exploit the vulnerabilities.
Election workers can prevent and detect manipulations using mitigations that are “already standard practice” in jurisdictions where the machines are used, according to the report.
Despite these assurances, Smith said the DeKalb race showed there’s a “high possibility” that there were voting tally inaccuracies in her race.
“Once again, we won’t know that until we have a hand recount,” she said.
Smith is part of the wider statewide trend where Georgia’s voting systems skeptics have mounted election challenges following the May primary. Those who filed challenges ran as Republicans, conservatives or claimed some affiliation with the party.
While school board races are nonpartisan, Smith advertised herself as the conservative candidate in the race. Her personal Facebook page shows her posing for pictures with Republican gubernatorial candidate Kandiss Taylor and GOP Secretary of State candidate Jody Hice.
Others who filed Georgia election challenges include Taylor, lieutenant gubernatorial candidates Jeanne Seaver and Mack McGregor, congressional candidate YG Nyghtstorm, Fayette County school board candidate Alyson Otto, and BlakPAC, a conservative PAC for minority candidates.
This story was originally published June 9, 2022 at 1:06 PM.