Fulton County may scan more than 1,000 early ballots again after equipment failures

Fulton County election officials plan to ask the county's elections board to approve a different counting process for 1,069 early ballots after two scanners malfunctioned, according to a memo dated Nov. 3.

The proposal calls for rescanning 361 ballots from Mechanicsville Library and potentially rescanning another 708 from Hugh C. Conley Recreation Center, depending on whether officials can retrieve the results from that scanner's memory cards.

The memo, attributed to county elections director Nadine Williams, says the proposed procedures were discussed with the Georgia secretary of state's voting systems staff. They require approval from the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections.

What happened to the scanners?

At Hugh C. Conley Recreation Center, a scanner repeatedly displayed a paper jam error on Oct. 26 even after troubleshooting found no apparent jam, according to the memo. Officials stopped using it after 708 ballots had been cast.

The proposal would first move its memory cards to another scanner to complete the process of closing voting and producing results. If that fails, officials would rescan the paper ballots.

At Mechanicsville Library, a voter using a wheelchair accidentally rolled over a scanner's power cable Oct. 21, causing it to shut down, the memo says. It displayed an error after restarting and would no longer operate.

The scanner had processed 361 ballots. State voting systems staff advised against uploading its memory cards because of possible data corruption, according to the memo. Those paper ballots would be rescanned.

If approved, officials estimated the work would begin between 7 and 7:30 p.m., after polls close.

The memo says staff would announce the process in the Election Hub and Operations Center's public observation area. The work would remain visible to the public, with a closer view available to authorized poll watchers and others permitted in the restricted area.