A Georgia judge reportedly permitted the examination of absentee ballots in Fulton County in line with the 2020 election fraud claims.
The Blaze said Judge Brian Amero of the Henry County Superior Court has approved on Friday a massive audit be conducted on Fulton County's more than 145,000 absentee ballots.
According to public records, Amero ordered the civil action in line with the petition filed by Garland Favorito and company against the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections, the Fulton County Clerk of Superior and Magistrate Court, and the county itself.
The "Order To Unseal" grants the petition to "inspect and scan the November 3, 2020, general election absentee balots that are sealed pursuant to OCGA 21-2-500," which pertains to the 2010 Georgia Code on Elections for the "delivery of voting materials." The Code requires the election returns to be immediately sealed and then delivered by the superintendent to the clerk of the superior court.
Amero, who is the Chief Judge of Henry County's Superior Court and a designated Flint Judicial Circuit Judge of the Fulton County Superior Court, also granted the petitioners "to inspect and scan" the ballots "in accordance with protocols and practices that will be set forth" by the said court.
The Blaze pointed out that despite the permission to conduct the audit, the results of which will not affect the results of the 2020 presidential elections in Fulton County since it was already certified. Likewise, the ballots will not be removed from the care of the election officials of Fulton County during the audit.
Meanwhile, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) said the schedule of the audit is still not defined and that the cost of the audit will be paid by the plaintiffs. The AJC disclosed that there is actually doubt on the plaintiffs capacity to conduct an independent audit since they have "no legal authority" based on claims raised by the legal counsel of Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
Amero's decision came two months after he was reported to be "mulling" on unsealing the ballots to "shed light" on the controversy of the 2020 elections results in Fulton County.
"We want to do this in such a way that dispels rumors and disinformation and sheds light. The devil's in the details," Amero said in his interview with the AJC last March.
The controversy arose when former President Donald Trump's team presented evidence on voter fraud in Georgia last December, wherein the most notable one included a CCTV footage of ballots carried in suit cased by poll workers in the State Farm Arena.
This particular incident that was captured by the CCTV footage was said to be the very reason the plaintiffs filed the petition for the audit.
"Plaintiffs say an examination of ballots would get to the bottom of what they see as suspicious activity at State Farm Arena on election night and pave the way for more accurate elections in the future," the AJC said in its report.
