ATLANTA (AP) – A judge on Friday agreed to unseal absentee ballots to allow for an audit of November election results in Georgia’s most populous county.
Henry County Superior Court Judge Brian Amero said the specifics of the audit of more than 145,000 absentee ballots from Fulton County would be outlined in a future order, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
The ruling stems from a lawsuit against the county that alleges evidence of fraudulent ballots and improper counting. The judge said he’ll order county officials to scan the ballots and produce high resolution images. The plaintiffs plan to use those images to determine whether the ballots were completed by hand or machine to determine their legitimacy, the newspaper reported.
The plaintiffs, nine Georgia voters, will pay for the audit, the newspaper reported.
Fulton County Commission Chairman Robb Pitts issued a statement after Friday’s ruling saying it’s “outrageous that Fulton County continues to be a target of those who cannot accept the results from last year’s election.”