Board Member Formally Votes Against Certification Due to Total Absence of Signature Verification on 148,000+ Absentee Ballots (GA)

Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections member Mark Wingate formally and explicitly voted against certifying the 2020 general election results. In a sworn affidavit, Wingate stated that he refused certification because the Board was specifically informed – before the certification vote – that the county had performed no signature verification on over 147,000 absentee-by-mail ballots. O.C.G.A. § 21-2-386(a)(1)(B) requires that absentee ballots be accepted only after the registrar “compare[s] the signature or mark of the elector on the envelope with the signature or mark of the elector on the absentee ballot application.” The complete absence of signature verification on 147,000 ballots is not a documentation gap or administrative irregularity – it is a wholesale failure to perform a mandatory statutory function. Wingate additionally questioned the fundamental accuracy of the active/inactive voter rolls as a basis for his refusal. The certification proceeded over his dissent.