Deliberate Destruction of Records – Favorito v. Cooney (Fulton Co. Super. Ct.) – One of Three Discovery Cases; Access to Ballots Controlled by Same Officials Who Destroyed Records (GA)

[Reasonable Inference – Prior record destruction compromised the discovery process] Favorito v. Cooney was one of only three post-2020 election cases, nationally, in which some form of discovery was permitted. However, the discovery was supervised and channeled through the same Fulton County officials who, per the EOG Report, had already admitted destroying the majority of original ballot images before this discovery occurred. The effectiveness of any “merits” review in Favorito was therefore compromised ab initio by the prior destruction of the primary evidence the case required. Courts treating this case as a merits adjudication must account for the fact that discovery operated on a depleted record.