Why One Experienced GA Recount Worker Believes Odd Batch of Ballots Were Added in 'Fraudulent Manner'

Leah Barkoukis | November 19, 2020 8:25 AM

Susan Voyles, a Georgia poll worker with 20 years of experience, said in a sworn affidavit Tuesday that she noticed something strange about a batch of ballots that overwhelmingly favored Joe Biden, leading her to believe “additional absentee ballots had been added in a fraudulent manner.”

The observation came when she was serving as an auditor in the recount at the Fulton County Sandy Springs poll station.

“For our first assignment, we were given a cardboard box that contained only absentee ballots,” she wrote. “It was taped shut with packing tape with the seal of the Secretary of State. But the seal was blank, signed by no one, and no information had been supplied. There were no markings indicating the provenance of the box. The box was marked as Box No. 5—Absentee—Batch Numbers 28-36.”

Within that box were stacks of ballots, with roughly 100 in each stack.

“Most of the ballots had already been handled; they had been written on by people, and the edges were worn. They showed obvious use. However, one batch stood out. It was pristine,” she continued. “There was a difference in the texture of the paper—it was if they were intended for absentee use but had not been used for that purposes. There was a difference in the feel.”

The ballots also showed no markings to indicate where they came from or were processed. “These stood out,” she said.

With 20 years of handling ballots behind her, Voyles “observed that the markings for the candidates in these ballots were unusually uniform, perhaps even with a ballot-marking device.”

According to her estimate, 98 percent were for Joe Biden. “I only observed two of these ballots as votes for President Donald J. Trump.”

The affidavit was in support of attorney Lin Wood's lawsuit in Georgia that “seeks to block certification of Georgia’s election until all ballot envelopes are inspected." Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has vowed to fight the lawsuit, arguing it would jeopardize the secrecy of the vote.

He also commented on the lawsuit on Facebook, writing, “My team secured and strengthened absentee ballots for the first time since 2005. As Secretary of State the first thing I did was push legislation that—OUTLAWED—absentee ballot harvesting in Georgia.”