Georgia’s vote recount was reportedly halted by a Dominion Voting Systems server crash. Meanwhile, a judge ordered officials not to wipe data from Dominion devices ahead of a possible “forensic investigation” into fraud claims.
After a statewide recount affirmed Joe Biden’s 12,000-vote win over Donald Trump, the president requested another recount by hand last week, alleging illegal ballots helped Biden squeak out a victory in the Peach State. With the tally ongoing, counting in Fulton County, where Atlanta is located, was halted on Sunday when a server, obtained from Dominion Voting Systems, crashed.
“Technicians from Dominion have been dispatched to resolve the issue,” Fulton County officials said in a statement to local media, adding that “the Georgia Secretary of State’s office has also been alerted to the issue.”
Dominion is a foreign-owned company whose voting machines are used in 28 US states. In the aftermath of this month’s disputed election, Trump and a number of Republicans accused the firm of enabling outsiders to “glitch” votes in favor of Biden.
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Dominion’s security vulnerabilities are well documented, including in the user manuals enclosed with the machines. Just last year, a group of prominent Democrats, including Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, warned Dominion’s machines were “prone to security problems,” including “switching votes,” “undisclosed vulnerabilities” and results that “threaten the integrity of our elections.”
These allegations play a starring role in a lawsuit filed last week by former Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell, who is still seeking to overturn Biden’s apparent win in Georgia as a freelancer. Powell’s suit alleges Dominion’s machines were designed to “hide its manipulation of votes from any audit,” and that Georgia Governor Brian Kemp knew this when he awarded the firm a contract to supply voting machines to his state last year.
In a minor victory for Powell and co-lawyer Lin Wood, a judge in Georgia granted a temporary injunction on Sunday night forbidding election officials from wiping data from Dominion machines, pending a possible “forensic inspection.” The judge previously issued a similar order, which was successfully challenged by Kemp and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
“Sidney Powell @SidneyPowell1 & I won, then lost, but ended up winning. We will never give up the pursuit of TRUTH to achieve justice,” Wood tweeted after the injunction was granted.
Dominion responded to Powell and Wood’s lawsuit by accusing the two lawyers of spinning a “bizarre election fraud conspiracy.” The voting company said the allegations against it are “baseless, senseless, physically impossible, and unsupported by any evidence whatsoever,” and that its technology is “the gold standard for transparent and accountable voting equipment.”
After the state’s first recount, Kemp signed the paperwork awarding Georgia’s 16 electoral votes to Biden. Trump has thus far refused to acknowledge Biden’s win in Georgia, or nationally, but told reporters on Thursday that should the Electoral College declare the former vice president the winner when it meets in December, he would “certainly” leave office.
However, the embattled president said a day later that “Biden can only enter the White House as President if he can prove that his ridiculous ‘80,000,000 votes’ were not fraudulently or illegally obtained.”
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