Today in Georgia, the state’s 6th congressional district will hold a special election to decide who will fill the seat in Congress vacated by Tom Price, who was chosen by President Trump as Health Secretary. In the last few days, Trump has taken a special interest in the election, sending out tweets that label the Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff as a “super liberal who wants to protect criminals, allow illegal immigration and raise taxes.”
Seeing as many believe a victory by the newcomer Ossoff would be the first sign that voters are planning to put their ballots where their Presidential approval ratings are, no matter how small the start, it makes sense that Trump would send out his Batsignal. Hell, even Samuel L. Jackson is paying close attention to the race, recently lending his voice to a campaign ad. All systems seem to be a go for what should be an interesting day at the voting machines in Georgia.
About that. Yeah, the thing is, a couple of said voting machines aren’t going to make it today because they were stolen out of the back of a precinct manager’s car parked in a Kroger’s grocery store parking lot. According to Channel 2 Action News in Georgia, state officials are investigating the machines’ whereabouts. Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp is especially upset because it took his office two day to hear about the theft of the four missing machines, leaving authorities little time to recover and replace them. Kemp released the following statement following the news of the missing machines, Action News reports:
“It is unacceptable that the Cobb County Elections Office waited two days to notify my office of this theft. We have opened an investigation, and we are taking steps to ensure that it has no effect on the election tomorrow. I am confident that the results will not be compromised.”
The missing machines aren’t used during the actual voting process. Rather, they are used by polling staff to check voters in and to keep track of who has already voted. Although voter information is inside the machines, it’s said that anyone who has them in their possession now would have a difficult time accessing that information. Still, any loss of voter information or even minor cracks in the elections procedure is sure to show up on the President’s Twitter feed if Ossoff pulls off the upset.
(Via Channel 2 Action News and Business Insider)