Georgia secretary of state to replace election equipment accessed by Trump allies

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) announced on Friday that the state will replace voting machines in Coffee County after a forensics team linked to former President Trump handled the equipment last year.

“To allay the fears being stoked by perennial election deniers and conspiracy theorists, we’re replacing Coffee County’s election machines,” Raffensperger said in a statement.

“Replacing the equipment puts an end to any argument that the results in Coffee County, and anywhere else in Georgia for that matter, will not accurately reflect the will of Georgia voters.”

Footage released earlier this month shows contractors reportedly hired by Trump attorney Sidney Powell, accompanied by some investigators from Raffensperger’s office, copying voter data from machines in Coffee County.

The footage, taken a day after the attack on the U.S. Capitol, was discovered in conjunction with a larger-scale criminal investigation into Trump allies’ efforts to overturn presidential election results in Georgia.

Raffensperger emphasized his support of the investigations into Georgia elections and claimed that “anyone who broke the law should be punished to its full extent.”

“Voters expect to be able to trust their election officials and we rely on Georgia’s local election officials to follow the rules and laws that protect the integrity of Georgia elections,” he said.

“If the ongoing investigation by the State Election Board and the GBI uncovers violations of the law, those individuals should be prosecuted and punished to the full extent of the law.”

Powell allegedly hired the legal technology firm SullivanStrickler to work on discovering evidence that Trump won the 2020 presidential election.

Former Georgia GOP official Cathy Latham, who signed a certificate in 2020 falsely claiming that Trump had won Georgia in the presidential election, joined the group for more than four hours on Jan. 7, according to the new footage.

The video of Latham contradicts her sworn testimony that she stopped by the building in Coffee County on that date but did not enter the office.

Raffensperger’s announcement specified that officials would provide Coffee County with new ballot marking devices, printers, precinct scanners, poll pads and thumb drives. The county’s election management server and central scanner workstation have already been replaced.

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