October 23, 2020 Remote Takeover and Deletion of Absentee Ballot Processing Computer – No Criminal Referral (GA)

On October 23, 2020 – 11 days before Election Day – a poll worker at the North Fulton Government Service Center reported that one of the computers used for Absentee Ballot Processing had been remotely accessed from somewhere else, with the remote party taking control of the computer and deleting information. This incident was known to Frances Watson, Chief Investigator of the Georgia Secretary of State’s Investigations Division, who initiated the email chain documenting the report. The computer was confirmed to be connected to the internet via Wi-Fi. The critical established facts are: (1) a computer in the absentee ballot processing chain was confirmed to have been remotely accessed and manipulated; (2) data was deleted from that computer during an active election period; (3) the incident was reported to the Secretary of State’s Investigations Division; and (4) no public criminal referral or prosecution has been documented as resulting from this incident. Whether the remote access originated from a domestic or foreign actor is unknown – no forensic investigation has been publicly disclosed. A computer used in absentee ballot processing that was remotely accessed with data deletion during the pre-election period presents a direct pathway for election interference, regardless of the perpetrator’s national origin.