Uncounted votes on forgotten memory card rock Georgia election

In Cobb County, Georgia, a forgotten memory card containing uncounted ballots altered the final results of a special election, officials said.

The County Board of Elections and Registration voted to recertify the results of the Nov. 8 Kennesaw City Council special election at a Nov. 18 meeting, according to a statement.

“Recertification became necessary when employees discovered that a memory card had not been included in previous results. The extra ballots caused a change in the results of the special election for Kennesaw City Council Office 1”the statement said.

Madelyn Orochena was initially declared the winner of the special election. However, when additional ballots were discovered on the memory card, Lynette Burnette emerged as the winner of the race by 31 votes, officials told local media.

“Unfortunately, once found, we uploaded it and the result of the Kennesaw City Council race was changed”Cobb County Chief Electoral Officer Janine Eveler told local media.

According 11Alive, Cobb election officials said the memory card was found in Kennesaw as employees prepared to conduct an election audit. No further details were provided as to why the card was forgotten or where it was.

A recount was conducted on November 20.

Madelyn Orochena wrote in a Facebook post that she was going to file a complaint with the Georgia Secretary of State’s office.

“I had planned to party with my family, friends and supporters afterwards. We had no reason to expect it to be otherwise.”Madelyn Orochena told WSB‑TVadding that she “was simply doing whatever she could do within her rights to regain confidence in the fairness of the election”.

Meanwhile, Lynette Burnette released a statement on Fox5 to say that she felt “honoured to have the opportunity to serve the people of Kennesaw, even though the election turned out to be unconventional…I look forward to making Kennesaw the best community it can be”.

After the Dec. 6 runoff election between Sen. Raphael Warnock (Democratic Party-Georgia) and Republican candidate Herschel Walker, Cobb County officials will conduct an investigation to determine how the memory card may have been overlooked, they told local media.