DeKalb County, Georgia, has enlisted the help of first responders to secure the chain of custody of ballots on Election Day after deep “mistrust” from both Republicans and Democrats about election security arose following the 2020 election.
DeKalb, which voted for President Joe Biden in 2020, has 191 election night precincts and is the fourth-largest county by population in the Peach State.
In the past, “after closing out the precinct, a poll manager and deputy poll manager would drive with SD cards containing the votes to the DeKalb County voter registration and elections office, which is headquarters, where votes would be tabulated,” Chairwoman of the DeKalb County Republican Party Marci McCarthy explained to The Federalist. “The SD cards and other election materials were then checked in, processed and uploaded at headquarters. There used to be about 10 different check in stations filling the hallway.”
But the system was vulnerable to potential ballot chain-of-custody issues, McCarthy said. At the time, she questioned why the deputy poll managers and managers were “separated in two vehicles” and “Who is carrying the memory cards and critical information, the votes, if they’re in two different vehicles?”
The program enlists the help of police officers, firefighters, clerks, and other first responders to help securely transport SD cards to the DeKalb County voter registration and elections office. A DeKalb County document reviewed by The Federalist confirmed the program’s implementation.
“Now, the deputized election night runners come into DeKalb County voter registration and elections office to bring in
