New by me at BradBlog/BradCast: Elections breach cover-up in rural town with national implications

[Karl Semich]

>
> Today the BradBlog <https://BradBlog.com>, run for two decades and
> counting by journalist Brad Friedman -- of the syndicated United States FM
> radio show, the BradCast -- published my new in-depth investigative article
> regarding rural, Republican-leaning Coffee County down south in the swing
> state of Georgia, and then interviewed me for his radio show. Here's the
> title, subtitle, and hyperlink for the article component:
> *A secret meeting within a secret meeting: Unspooling the Coffee County,
> Georgia voting system breach and continuing cover-up*
> <https://bradblog.com/?p=14697>
> subtitled *Cracks emerge in wall of secrecy surrounding mysterious County
> meeting in small town conspiracy with national implications...*
>

*- The BRAD BLOG - https://bradblog.com <https://bradblog.com> -*

A Secret Meeting Within a Secret Meeting: Unspooling the Coffee County,
Georgia Voting System Breach and Continuing Cover-Up

Cracks emerge in wall of secrecy surrounding mysterious County meeting in
small town conspiracy with national implications...

*** An exclusive BRAD BLOG investigation

Posted By *Douglas Lucas* On 21st June 2023 @ 09:35 In *Election
Irregularities*, *Georgia*, *Election Fraud*, *National Security*,
*Accountability*, *Dominion Voting*, *Donald Trump*, *Election 2020*, *Brad
Raffensperger*, *Sidney Powell*, *CISA*, *Insurrection*, *Mike
Lindell*, *Election
2024*, *Fani Willis*, *Coffee County* | *No Comments*

At first glance, a closed-door executive session of the Board of Elections
at the Coffee County Courthouse in the battleground state of Georgia
appeared to involve nothing more than discussion of that day's resignation
letters
<https://bradblog.comhttps//douglasnow.com/index.php/news/item/8778-board-of-elections-accepts-employee-resignations-election-office-temporarily-closed>
 [1] from then-Election Supervisor Misty Hampton
<https://bradblog.comhttps//bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/MistyHamptonResignationLetter_25February2021.pdf>
 [2] and her assistant
<https://bradblog.comhttps//bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/JilRidlehooverResignationLetter_25February2021.pdf>
 [3] over their purported cheating on timesheets.

But the previously undisclosed, simultaneous presence of an unacknowledged
quorum of County Commissioners at that executive session --- a secret
meeting during a secret meeting, a game-changer confirmed by The BRAD BLOG
<https://bradblog.comhttps//bradblog.com> [4] --- combined with curious *doth
protest too much* efforts the County is still using to defend its secrets
about the supposedly humdrum assembly, indicate the February 25, 2021
meetings (now known as meetings *plural*) and surrounding events were the
nexus of a much broader statewide, perhaps even nationwide, cover-up.

That night, the very same reputedly run-of-the-mill Thursday in February
when the elections board gathered at the Courthouse, MyPillow founder and
close Trump associate Mike Lindell --- a chief Stop the Steal bankroller
--- landed his private jet in the county's tiny seat of Douglas, population
11,685. A few hours earlier, flight records show
<https://bradblog.comhttps//twitter.com/MacFinn44/status/1365437816080109576>
 [5], he landed in D.C. A few hours before that, his plane took off from a
runway not 15 miles from the private Mar-a-Lago club belonging to a certain
twice-impeached Florida Man named Donald J. Trump. Why did Lindell fly so
circuitously from the Palm Beach area to the nation's capital and then back
down south to rural Coffee County, of all places?

And why did he want to speak with Misty Hampton, Coffee's resigning
Election Supervisor? Evidence
<https://bradblog.comhttps//bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/CurlingVRaffensperger_KurtOlsenMistyHamptonEdVoylesMessages_February2021.pdf>
 [6] yielded from a years-long lawsuit by actual election experts
challenging Georgia's Dominion voting system has revealed that the
far-right bedding baron's lawyer, Kurt Olsen, tried to get ahold of Hampton
the previous evening to talk, as word spread that she'd be dismissed the
next day. Why would he want to do *that*?

Over the January prior to the unexplained meeting(s) --- in fact, beginning
just the day after armed and violent Trump supporters assailed
<https://bradblog.comhttps//www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-J6-REPORT/pdf/GPO-J6-REPORT.pdf>
 [7] the U.S. Capitol in hopes of preventing Joe Biden's 2020 election
victory --- a motley mix of mostly MAGA operatives illicitly entered the
Coffee County elections building on multiple occasions. The breach was funded
and organized
<https://bradblog.comhttps//bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/invoice.html> [8] by
Trump attorney Sidney Powell, that prolific and since-sanctioned
<https://bradblog.comhttps//www.michigan.gov/-/media/Project/Websites/AG/opinions/172_opinion__order_King.pdf?rev=094b2bd4f3e141a1b9bb5aff9ee2cf6a>
 [9] filer of failed <https://bradblog.comhttps//lostnotstolen.org/>
[10] lawsuits
seeking to steal Biden's 2020 win.

One client of the breach-funding Powell, it turns out, was "fake elector"
Cathy Latham, the former Coffee County GOP chair. Latham was found to have
helped facilitate --- and to have lied
<https://bradblog.comhttps//bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/CurlingVRaffensperger_ExhibitRegardingLathamLies_19September2022.pdf>
 [11] about her presence during --- the breach at the elections office,
where the invited intruders copied Dominion's proprietary software that is
still to be used in the 2024 Presidential election in Georgia and numerous
jurisdictions beyond.

Hampton, as director of elections for the Republican-leaning county,
welcomed the Powell-paid team into the local elections office to have at
the voting equipment, tabulators and sensitive election management systems.

With statewide voting systems gravely compromised
<https://bradblog.comhttps//bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/CurlingVRaffensperger_HaldermanDominionBMDSecurityAnalysis_1July2021Unsealed14June2023.pdf>
 [12] by the ensuing breach --- Georgia Secretary of State Brad
Raffensperger forces every county to use the same touchscreens, also
employed in more than a dozen states
<https://bradblog.comhttps//verifiedvoting.org/verifier/#mode/search/year/2024/make/Dominion>
 [13] nationwide --- and with traces of top Trumpers everywhere, the
scandal is, as the county seat's Mayor Pro Tem recently put it
<https://bradblog.comhttps//youtu.be/Rjw2cIHxyfQ?t=2162> [14], "only
getting bigger."

Indeed, Atlanta-based District Attorney Fani Willis is reportedly
<https://bradblog.comhttps//www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/06/02/trump-georgia-election-investigation-fulton-county/>
 [15] investigating the Coffee County breach, along with Team Trump's
multistate plot to gain access to and copy data from voting systems in
other states as well. The scheme, as we have since learned
<https://bradblog.comhttps//bradblog.com/?p=14643> [16], was hatched
<https://bradblog.comhttps//www.nytimes.com/2023/04/21/us/trump-voting-software-2020-election.html>
 [17] during a notorious December 2020 meeting
<https://bradblog.comhttps//www.nytimes.com/2022/07/12/us/dec-18-meeting-jan-6-trump.html>
 [18] in the Oval Office with Trump present. That fact came to light in
testimony
<https://bradblog.comhttps//freespeechforpeople.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/doj.sp_.coffee.j6.4.18.23.pdf>
 [19] to the U.S. House subcommittee that investigated
<https://bradblog.comhttps//www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-J6-TRANSCRIPT-CTRL0000055541/pdf/GPO-J6-TRANSCRIPT-CTRL0000055541.pdf>
 [20] January 6th.

Frustrated, fighting back tears, Douglas Mayor Pro Tem Olivia Pearson, a
lifelong Coffee resident and voting rights activist
<https://bradblog.comhttps//www.vera.org/in-our-backyards-stories/this-is-by-design>
 [21] in the majority black seat of the majority white county, said at a
recent gathering as the reality of the breach finally began galvanizing
local residents, "We have *got* to make it right. We can't keep covering it
up!"

Starting in earnest last month, local residents have increasingly attended
the Board of Elections' open meetings, only to be told, more than once, by
its unapologetic Chairman Wendell Stone --- who some locals are said to
describe as "Chairman Stone(wall)" --- to stop asking questions.

Of course, that makes us want to ask many *more* questions about what
really happened among the cows and cornstalks in the rural Peach State
county. Such as: Why did Hampton and her assistant who helped facilitate
the unlawful Trump/Powell/MAGA breach to illicitly copy and distribute
Coffee County's sensitive voting system software *actually* tender their
resignations on February 25, 2021?; Did local and state officials know
about the breach and attempt to cover it up with secret meetings? What on
Earth was Mike Lindell doing there for several hours that night?; And why
has the office of Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger,
heralded by some as a 'moderate Republican' hero for *not*
<https://bradblog.comhttps//www.wsj.com/articles/listen-to-the-full-trump-ga-call-11609713527>
 [22] helping Trump steal the state's election in 2020, denied the severity
of the breach and lied by both omission and commission to aid in covering
it all up
<https://bradblog.comhttps//bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/coveritallup.html> [23]
?

And, yes, all of this matters at the *national* level --- not only to the
Coffee residents, who have lately found themselves in a fight they never
asked for over their beloved county's soul...

*'Increased risks' for the entire nation*

On New Year's Day 2021, Jennifer Jackson, an employee at Atlanta cyber
forensics firm SullivanStrickler, received a typo-ridden text-message from
Trump lawyer Katherine Friess referring to her recent D.C. meeting with
Rudy Giuliani, onetime Trump attorney and former New York City Mayor.

"Hi! Just *h*anded back in DC with the Mayor. Huge things starting to come
together!" the misspelled message began. "Most immediately," Friess
continued, "we were granted access --- by written invitation! --- to the
Coffee County Syste*n*s. Yay!" Jackson, along with other supposed computer
experts from SullivanStrickler would, about a week later, breach the Coffee
elections building for what their invoice to Sidney Powell would term
"Voting Machines Analysis."

However, no such written invitation as Friess mentions has yet
materialized. Coffee Elections Board Chair Wendell Stone testified under
oath in a deposition
<https://bradblog.comhttps//bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/CurlingVRaffensperger_WendellStoneDeposition_1September2022.pdf>
 [24] that on "behalf of the Board, no authority was granted to examine our
systems, our computers, our data."

Friess' celebratory text
<https://bradblog.comhttps//bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/celebratorymessage.html>
 [25] to Jackson, and Stone's apparent denial, both surfaced in *Curling v.
Raffensperger*, an ongoing court case launched in July 2017. The plaintiffs
demand Georgia's Secretary of State Raffensperger replace his new,
unverifiable <https://bradblog.comhttps//bradblog.com/?p=14693> [26] $150
million polling place touchscreen systems with hand-marked paper ballots
tabulated by robustly audited
<https://bradblog.comhttps//www.stat.berkeley.edu/~stark/Preprints/gentle12.pdf>
 [27] optical scanners. Many cybersecurity and voting system experts
<https://bradblog.comhttps//georgetownlawtechreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/4.2-p523-541-Appel-Stark.pdf>
 [28] agree
<https://bradblog.comhttps//bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/CurlingVRaffensperger_HaldermanDominionBMDSecurityAnalysis_1July2021Unsealed14June2023.pdf>
 [29] the change would dramatically improve election integrity and
security. They had, in fact, strongly urged Raffensperger to move to such a
system after the federal judge in the *Curling* case found
<https://bradblog.comhttps//bradblog.com/?p=13101> [30] Georgia's previous
touchscreen systems too vulnerable to ever use again after 2019.

News stories
<https://bradblog.comhttps//bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/CGGandFSFP_SummaryOfMajorMediaAndMore_May2022toApril2023.pdf>
 [31] over the past year --- including by major corporate media outlets ---
have detailed
<https://bradblog.comhttps//www.cnn.com/2022/09/06/politics/surveillance-video-voting-machine-breach-coffee-county-georgia/index.html>
 [32] the security camera surveillance footage and other evidence
documenting the Jan. 7 through Jan. 29 illicit entrances at the Coffee
County elections building in 2021. As the stunning transgressions gradually
came to light, the *Curling* plaintiffs used them in federal court as an
object lesson in the gaping vulnerabilities plaguing Georgia's new,
replacement touchscreen systems.

In the words of one of the plaintiffs' computer security experts, Kevin
Skoglund, in his sworn December 2022 declaration
<https://bradblog.comhttps//bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/CurlingVRaffensperger_KevinSkoglundDeclaration_5December2022.pdf>
 [33], the intruders collected and distributed "protected software from
almost every component of Georgia's election system." Now, he warns
<https://bradblog.comhttps//www.latimes.com/politics/story/2023-03-30/election-machines-cpac>
 [34], "adversaries may use the software in disinformation campaigns or
study it to learn how to subvert its operation." As a result, he added,
"all of Georgia's counties and other states must endure increased risks."

Examination of the breach makes it impossible to interpret the activities
as anything other than a flagrant violation of Georgia law
<https://bradblog.comhttps//rules.sos.ga.gov/gac/183-1-12-.05?urlRedirected=yes&data=admin&lookingfor=183-1-12-.05>
 [35], as Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis appears to have
noticed. Furthermore, the matter has cast a dark, looming cloud over the
2024 election in both Georgia and other states where the same sensitive
equipment will be used again next year. In Georgia, the systems are
scheduled for use *without* critical security patches strongly recommended
<https://bradblog.comhttps//www.cisa.gov/news-events/ics-advisories/icsa-22-154-01>
 [36] by the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
Raffensperger's office recently told
<https://bradblog.comhttps//bradblog.com/?p=14659> [37] the federal judge
in *Curling* that Dominion's certified upgrades will *not* be installed in
the swing-state until *after* next year's Presidential election.
Cybersecurity experts have said such a delay in patching security holes now
gives potential attackers 18 months to exploit vulnerabilities spilled due
to the Coffee breach.

Then-election supervisor Misty Hampton was there in Coffee County,
complicit, every single day of the criminal breach. Roughly a month later,
when Mike Lindell's lawyer was texting her to schedule a chat, Hampton also
received a separate text
<https://bradblog.comhttps//bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/GroupMessages_ChaneyThomasEThomasClarkMcCulloughStone_24February2021.pdf>
 [38] from Board of Elections member Matthew McCullough.

McCullough told Hampton (and others on the Board's group-text) that County
Attorney Tony Rowell requested "discussing any conversations about
elections with him first," adding: "we have another new lawsuit and the
possibility of another after that."

New and potential litigation was on their minds the day before the next
afternoon's still-mysterious February 25, 2021 meeting(s). As far as
lawsuits are concerned, however, the published minutes
<https://bradblog.comhttps//bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/CoffeeCountyElectionsBoard_Agenda_25February2021.pdf>
 [39] for the meeting refer only to a need to go into a closed-door
executive session to discuss as-yet unexplained "PENDING OR POTENTIAL
LITIGATION, SETTLEMENT, CLAIMS, ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEEDINGS, OR OTHER
JUDICIAL ACTIONS BROUGHT OR TO BE BROUGHT BY OR AGAINST THE COUNTY."

The meeting was properly and publicly noticed in advance
<https://bradblog.comhttps//bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/MistyHamptonEricChaneyTextMessages_MeetingPublicNotice_FebruaryMarch2021.pdf>
 [40], and elections board Members assembled on Feb. 25, 2021, though not
in their usual spot, the elections building. Instead, they gathered in the
County Commissioners meeting room on the County Courthouse's ground floor.

Among the members present was Eric Chaney, who had participated in the
January breach and ultimately resigned from the Board of Elections in
August 2022. Under oath in a *Curling v. Raffensperger* deposition
<https://bradblog.comhttps//bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/CurlingVRaffensperger_EricChaneyDeposition_15August2022.pdf>
 [41] three days following his resignation, he oddly explained he'd stepped
down abruptly because he'd moved from one district to another. That's not a
reason <https://bradblog.comhttps//bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/notareason.html>
 [42] that would mandate he quit.

Chaney invoked the Fifth Amendment during his deposition just shy of 250
times <https://bradblog.comhttps//bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/250.html> [43],
despite being warned early on that citing the Fifth in the civil, not
criminal, proceeding meant the court could infer such statements undermine
him. The warning was prompted by Chaney pleading "Fifth Amendment" when
asked to confirm if he'd destroyed all his communications with Misty
Hampton. Elections officials, including Chaney and Hampton, have a legal
duty to preserve all such correspondence related to their election roles.

In fact, the Board now claims to have lost *all* of Hampton's emails
*and* those
of her assistant. *All of them*.

That's about where matters lay by last summer. The secretive gathering ---
purportedly to discuss Hampton and her assistant's mere timesheet
discrepancies and/or something litigation related --- remained a black
hole, with little light of knowledge escaping what the Douglas Mayor Pro
Tem would this month call a cover-up.

*Shadowy meeting. Missing documentation.*

Public minutes for the Feb. 25, 2021 meeting not produced and signed
<https://bradblog.comhttps//bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/CoffeeCountyElectionsBoardPublicMinutes_Signed_25Feb2021ProducedOct2022.pdf>
 [44] until Oct. 2022, over a year and a half later, when the
nonprofit Coalition
for Good Governance
<https://bradblog.comhttps//coalitionforgoodgovernance.org> [45], a
plaintiff in *Curling v. Raffensperger*, successfully demanded them from
the County. In retrospect, the concise document
<https://bradblog.comhttps//bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/CoffeeCountyElectionsBoardPublicMinutes_Unsigned_25Feb2021ProducedOct2022.pdf>
 [46], just 200-ish words in length, serves as a sign that Misty Hampton's
timesheets were little more than an attempted smokescreen.

The tardy minutes say little more than that the Board of Elections went
into a closed-door executive session, meaning they granted themselves
secrecy.

According to the public minutes, the Board cloaked their conversation for
two reasons permitted under certain circumstances: employment and
litigation. The first --- deliberating on dismissal or disciplinary matters
--- presumably refers to Hampton and her assistant's resignations. The
second, the sole other purpose given in the belated minutes for executive
secrecy, was to consult with County Attorney Tony Rowell --- who is
documented as being present at the meeting --- about pending/potential
litigation.

It seems implausible that the "new lawsuit and the possibility of another"
that Matthew McCullough referred to in the Board of Elections group-text
the night before revolved around dismissing Hampton due to purported
timesheet cheating. So what was the incoming litigation really about in
that month following the Coffee County voting software breach? And who had
threatened or brought it?

To speculate, ponder the interests of Secretary of State Raffensperger's
office or Dominion Voting Systems, either or both of which, if they'd
learned of the January breach, could have pressured the Coffee elections
body on pain of a lawsuit.

Georgia's embattled elections chief might have demanded Coffee County turn
over --- or conceal --- some bit of evidence, maybe to preemptively gain
some control over the potentially embarrassing or discrediting story before
it hit any headlines. We reached out to Raffensperger's office and will
update if answered. So far, although their website
<https://bradblog.comhttps//sos.ga.gov/> [47] continues trumpeting "secure"
elections, they aren't talking.

Dominion, despite their longstanding silence on the topic of their
sensitive, proprietary, and highly vulnerable
<https://bradblog.comhttps//bradblog.com/?p=14693> [48] voting systems
being breached, copied, and distributed via the Internet, has stubbornly
refused
<https://bradblog.comhttps//bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/stubbornrefusal.html>
[49] to produce related public records. A spokesperson's boilerplate
response
<https://bradblog.comhttps//bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/boilerplate.html>
[50] revealed
little sign of concern for the obvious risk of massive reputational damage
to their systems nationwide.

To date, speculation is all that's possible. Coffee County has yet to
publicly identify the purported litigation referenced by the text-message
or public minutes, even though the Association of County Commissioners of
Georgia (ACCG) guide to open meetings
<https://bradblog.comhttps//www.accg.org/library/legal/Open%20Meetings%20and%20Open%20Records%20Laws%202016.pdf>
 [51] cites case law
<https://bradblog.comhttps//bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/AppealsCourtGeorgia_ClaxtonEnterpriseVEvansCtyBdComm_6June2001.pdf>
 [52] to say "mere fear or suspicion of being sued" isn't enough to justify
executive session secrecy --- instead, to use a legal threat as a basis for
cloaking conversations, a board must be able to produce tangible proof,
such as a written demand letter, of the pending/potential litigation in
question.

Marilyn Marks, the Executive Director of the Coalition for Good Governance,
told us the County has yet to produce a tangible lawsuit threat matching
both McCullough's Feb. 24, 2021 group-text about a "new lawsuit and the
possibility of another" *and* use of litigation in the belated minutes as
the justification for executive session secrecy.

Our review of scores of emails between the nonprofit watchdog organization
and County attorney Jennifer Herzog --- constituting open records requests
and her official responses --- demonstrates the Coffee County Board of
Elections failed and continues to fail in its legal duty to correctly
document the shadowy Courthouse meeting.

For the secretive gathering, the elections board has produced only terse
and cryptic *public* minutes, even though Georgia open meetings law
<https://bradblog.comhttps//law.georgia.gov/document/here-4/download>
[53] mandates
a Board must record minutes for executive sessions as well, even if they
remain unpublished, so a judge may review them confidentially if need be.
The body must similarly "execute and file with the official minutes a
notarized affidavit" when asserting executive secrecy, describing "the
reason for closing the meeting and swearing that the meeting was limited to
the topics allowed by law."

In response to a Coalition records requests this year, Attorney Herzog
wrote on April 28: "I am not aware of any executive session minutes in
existence at this time."

Herzog's response regarding the affidavit was just as bad. Formally asked
by the nonprofit watchdog to produce the legally-mandated notarized
attestation for the Feb. 25, 2021 executive session at the courthouse,
Herzog answered on March 24 of this year that it was her "understanding
there are no records in Coffee County's possession responsive" to that
request. She added that she was not "aware of any [responsive] documents"
held by her law firm, Hall Booth Smith, a major outfit with more than 400+
attorneys nationwide.

The absent executive minutes, apparently nonexistent notarized affidavit,
and missing tangible proof of legal threats --- which, if published, would
identify any powerful players who were making demands of the County ---
combine to argue that the shadowy meeting's executive session was
illegitimate (a nice way of saying *illegal*), and that the Board of
Elections thereby owes everyone new, correct minutes documenting what
really happened.

*Cracking a cover-up's wall of secrecy?*

The BRAD BLOG has now uncovered and confirmed with several members present
at the secretive meeting that Coffee County has yet *another* problem.
Namely, that the tardy minutes are lies since they include no mention that
the Board of Elections was joined that day at the Courthouse by a
quorum of *County
Commissioners* --- the county's governing authority.

That quorum officially constituted a public meeting of *that* body as well,
a public meeting which is also required, under law, to be publicly noticed
in advance and recorded via official minutes.

No public notice announced the County Commissioners meeting within a
meeting. Official minutes are nowhere to be found. In fact, County Attorney
Herzog maintains that *no quorum of Commissioners met*!

Earlier this month, on June 4, after months of tight-lipped officials in
Coffee refusing to go on record about what *actually* happened at that
February 2021 meeting, Oscar Paulk, the only black member of Coffee's
County Commission, finally confirmed to us that he did, in fact, attend the
Feb. 25, 2021 elections board meeting.

Word of Paulk's confirmation quickly made its way around. At a public
meeting of the Board earlier this month, on June 6, 2023 --- just two days
after we were able to confirm the first crack in the Commissioners' wall of
secrecy --- Georgia activist Kathryn Grant asked
<https://bradblog.comhttps//youtu.be/Rjw2cIHxyfQ?t=2030> [54] if anyone
besides Paulk remembered Commissioners attending the Feb. 25, 2021 Board of
Elections executive session. No one spoke up. Chairman Wendell Stone
stonewalled as follows: "We're not accepting questions. The Board is not
accepting questions. I am not accepting questions."

Nevertheless, she persisted, and Stone man-terrupted: "We're not accepting
questions. And please don't pose another question."

In fact, Paulk had confirmed that a *trio* of County Commissioners ---
himself, A.J. Dovers and Ted O'Steen --- did, in fact, attend the elections
board's session at the Courthouse that day.

The admissions did not come easily, some 28 months after the meeting took
place. Two Board of Elections members, likewise on record, and only
*after* this
month's June 6 meeting, confirmed Paulk's admission. Ernestine Thomas-Clark
--- the sole black member of the board, who votes a Democratic ballot ---
confirmed to us on June 7. Air Force veteran Andy Thomas similarly
confirmed it to us the next day. (Despite the similar surnames, there's no
relation between the two.)

Yes, an official *quorum* of County Commissioners
<https://bradblog.comhttps//qpublic.net/ga/coffee/index-com.html> [55] attended
the shadowy Board of Elections meeting. Why? And why were the other two
Commissioners not there?

Georgia's legislation enabling
<https://bradblog.comhttps//www.legis.ga.gov/api/legislation/document/20132014/135112>
 [56] the Coffee County Board of Commissioners states that "three board
members shall constitute a quorum." The ACCG's legal guide spells out the
significance: "Meetings that must comply with the open meetings law include
the gathering of a quorum of a board of commissioners...at which any
official business, policy, or public matter of the county is formulated,
presented, discussed, or voted upon."

The meeting *was*, in fact, official business. Oscar Paulk told us, also on
June 4, that the Board of Elections invited the County Commissioners with
the purpose of discussing, on Feb. 25, 2021, Misty Hampton and "what to do
about her." In response, the Commissioners, as Paulk tells it, presented
their view that the fate of the then-Election Supervisor was a decision for
the elections board to formulate. But why were *eight* senior members of
County government --- plus the County Attorney --- present for what one
source described as a "task more fitting for the Human Resources staff"?

Mundane HR matter or not, the presence of three Commissioners listening to
the five-person elections body decide upon a governmental employment matter
certainly fits "a quorum of a board of commissioners at which...official
business...[is] discussed." That's true even if the County Commissioners'
quorum was brief and quick to wash their hands of the subject --- though to
be clear, that hasn't been established.

In other words, it wasn't one board of officials assembling at the
Courthouse that day, it was two. A secret meeting within a secret meeting.

With a quorum of Commissioners, statutory transparency obligations kick in:
the Coffee County Board of Commissioners legally owes everyone public
minutes documenting exactly what took place at the long-ago meeting. The
Coffee Board of Elections must correct their existing *public* minutes as
well. The two concurrent meetings had at least some significant duration of
overlap, and possibly started and ended at the same or nearly the same time
(or not). If litigation against the County was discussed, the public has
the right to know who threatened to sue Coffee County --- whether the Secretary
of State's office
<https://bradblog.comhttps//twitter.com/MarilynRMarks1/status/1545921712717537282?s=20>
 [57], Dominion Voting Systems, or other entities entirely --- and how the
matter was resolved.

*Did the threatened litigation relate to the January elections building
breaches, then still a tightly held secret?*

*Still more questions than answers*

<https://bradblog.comhttps//twitter.com/MacFinn44/status/1365437816080109576>
[58]Seeking details on the Commissioners quorum revelation, we asked County
Attorneys Jennifer Herzog and Tony Rowell for comment. Our repeated
messages went unanswered. So did our multiple requests for comment sent to
every current Commissioner besides Oscar Paulk and every current Board of
Elections member other than Andy Thomas and Ernestine Thomas-Clark.

As the freshly cracking wall of secrecy surrounding that Thursday assembly
28 months ago at the Coffee County Courthouse continues to crumble, we may
come to understand better the myriad links between relevant parties, such
as top Trumpers, corporate voting vendors, high-powered and profoundly
conflicted "local" lawyers, leading Georgia state election officials and
those on the ground in Coffee County, including the public asking what
happened in their home county and what should be done about it.

Where did this apparent cover-up begin? Where does it end? We will keep
digging.

In the meantime, if you happen to see MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, ask him
what he was doing late that night at Coffee county's airport
<https://bradblog.comhttps//twitter.com/MacFinn44/status/1365437816080109576>
 [59] in Douglas, Georgia, right after visiting the nation's capital and
Donald Trump's private club, will ya? After all, he'd been photographed the
month prior heading into the White House, just a week after the Jan. 6
auto-coup attempt, carrying notes mentioning Sidney Powell --- funder of
the unprecedented Coffee County voting system breach --- and citing the
Insurrection Act, a legal basis, in certain unhappy circumstances, for
declaring martial law.

That seems important.

** * **

*Originally from Texas, Douglas Lucas is a Seattle-based freelance
writer/journalist, content marketer, and substitute teacher in public
education. Besides speaking at a Buffalo, New York anarchist bookstore in
2017, he has reported from the trials of several federal defendants in the
hacktivism/transparency movement, turned internal memos hacked out of the
spy firm Stratfor into carefully researched stories, and appeared as an
expert on the same in the documentary film The Hacker Wars. Visit
his website <https://bradblog.comhttps//douglaslucas.com> [60], follow
him on Twitter <https://bradblog.comhttps//twitter.com/DouglasLucas> [61],
or admire his houseplants on Instagram
<https://bradblog.comhttps//instagram.com/DouglasLucas> [62].*
------------------------------

Article printed from The BRAD BLOG: *https://bradblog.com
<https://bradblog.com>*

URL to article: *https://bradblog.com/?p=14697
<https://bradblog.com/?p=14697>*

URLs in this post:
[1] resignation letters:
*https://bradblog.comhttps://douglasnow.com/index.php/news/item/8778-board-of-ele
<http://douglasnow.com/index.php/news/item/8778-board-of-ele>ctions-accepts-employee-resignations-election-office-temporarily-closed*
[2] Misty Hampton:
*https://bradblog.comhttps://bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/MistyHamptonResignationLett
<http://bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/MistyHamptonResignationLett>er_25February2021.pdf*
[3] her assistant:
*https://bradblog.comhttps://bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/JilRidlehooverResignationLe
<http://bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/JilRidlehooverResignationLe>tter_25February2021.pdf*
[4] The BRAD BLOG: *https://bradblog.comhttps://bradblog.com
<http://bradblog.com>*
[5] flight records show:
*https://bradblog.comhttps://twitter.com/MacFinn44/status/1365437816080109576
<http://twitter.com/MacFinn44/status/1365437816080109576>*
[6] Evidence:
*https://bradblog.comhttps://bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/CurlingVRaffensperger_KurtO
<http://bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/CurlingVRaffensperger_KurtO>lsenMistyHamptonEdVoylesMessages_February2021.pdf*
[7] armed and violent Trump supporters assailed:
*https://bradblog.comhttps://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-J6-REPORT/pdf/GPO-J6
<http://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-J6-REPORT/pdf/GPO-J6>-REPORT.pdf*
[8] funded and organized:
*https://bradblog.comhttps://bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/invoice.html
<http://bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/invoice.html>*
[9] sanctioned:
*https://bradblog.comhttps://www.michigan.gov/-/media/Project/Websites/AG/opinion
<http://www.michigan.gov/-/media/Project/Websites/AG/opinion>s/172_opinion__order_King.pdf?rev=094b2bd4f3e141a1b9bb5aff9ee2cf6a*
[10] failed: *https://bradblog.comhttps://lostnotstolen.org/
<http://lostnotstolen.org/>*
[11] lied:
*https://bradblog.comhttps://bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/CurlingVRaffensperger_Exhib
<http://bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/CurlingVRaffensperger_Exhib>itRegardingLathamLies_19September2022.pdf*
[12] gravely compromised:
*https://bradblog.comhttps://bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/CurlingVRaffensperger_Halde
<http://bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/CurlingVRaffensperger_Halde>rmanDominionBMDSecurityAnalysis_1July2021Unsealed14June2023.pdf*
[13] more than a dozen states:
*https://bradblog.comhttps://verifiedvoting.org/verifier/#mode/search/year/2024/m
<http://verifiedvoting.org/verifier/#mode/search/year/2024/m>ake/Dominion*
[14] recently put it: *https://bradblog.comhttps://youtu.be/Rjw2cIHxyfQ?t=2162
<http://youtu.be/Rjw2cIHxyfQ?t=2162>*
[15] reportedly:
*https://bradblog.comhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/06/02/trump-georg
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/06/02/trump-georg>ia-election-investigation-fulton-county/*
[16] since learned: *https://bradblog.comhttps://bradblog.com/?p=14643
<http://bradblog.com/?p=14643>*
[17] hatched:
*https://bradblog.comhttps://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/21/us/trump-voting-software-
<http://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/21/us/trump-voting-software->2020-election.html*
[18] notorious December 2020 meeting:
*https://bradblog.comhttps://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/12/us/dec-18-meeting-jan-6-t
<http://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/12/us/dec-18-meeting-jan-6-t>rump.html*
[19] testimony:
*https://bradblog.comhttps://freespeechforpeople.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/d
<http://freespeechforpeople.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/d>oj.sp_.coffee.j6.4.18.23.pdf*
[20] investigated:
*https://bradblog.comhttps://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-J6-TRANSCRIPT-CTRL00
<http://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-J6-TRANSCRIPT-CTRL00>00055541/pdf/GPO-J6-TRANSCRIPT-CTRL0000055541.pdf*
[21] voting rights activist:
*https://bradblog.comhttps://www.vera.org/in-our-backyards-stories/this-is-by-des
<http://www.vera.org/in-our-backyards-stories/this-is-by-des>ign*
[22] *not*:
*https://bradblog.comhttps://www.wsj.com/articles/listen-to-the-full-trump-ga-cal
<http://www.wsj.com/articles/listen-to-the-full-trump-ga-cal>l-11609713527*
[23] covering it all up:
*https://bradblog.comhttps://bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/coveritallup.html
<http://bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/coveritallup.html>*
[24] deposition:
*https://bradblog.comhttps://bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/CurlingVRaffensperger_Wende
<http://bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/CurlingVRaffensperger_Wende>llStoneDeposition_1September2022.pdf*
[25] celebratory text:
*https://bradblog.comhttps://bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/celebratorymessage.html
<http://bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/celebratorymessage.html>*
[26] unverifiable: *https://bradblog.comhttps://bradblog.com/?p=14693
<http://bradblog.com/?p=14693>*
[27] robustly audited:
*https://bradblog.comhttps://www.stat.berkeley.edu/~stark/Preprints/gentle12.pdf
<http://www.stat.berkeley.edu/~stark/Preprints/gentle12.pdf>*
[28] experts:
*https://bradblog.comhttps://georgetownlawtechreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/
<http://georgetownlawtechreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/>07/4.2-p523-541-Appel-Stark.pdf*
[29] agree:
*https://bradblog.comhttps://bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/CurlingVRaffensperger_Halde
<http://bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/CurlingVRaffensperger_Halde>rmanDominionBMDSecurityAnalysis_1July2021Unsealed14June2023.pdf*
[30] found: *https://bradblog.comhttps://bradblog.com/?p=13101
<http://bradblog.com/?p=13101>*
[31] News stories:
*https://bradblog.comhttps://bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/CGGandFSFP_SummaryOfMajorMe
<http://bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/CGGandFSFP_SummaryOfMajorMe>diaAndMore_May2022toApril2023.pdf*
[32] detailed:
*https://bradblog.comhttps://www.cnn.com/2022/09/06/politics/surveillance-video-v
<http://www.cnn.com/2022/09/06/politics/surveillance-video-v>oting-machine-breach-coffee-county-georgia/index.html*
[33] sworn December 2022 declaration:
*https://bradblog.comhttps://bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/CurlingVRaffensperger_Kevin
<http://bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/CurlingVRaffensperger_Kevin>SkoglundDeclaration_5December2022.pdf*
[34] warns:
*https://bradblog.comhttps://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2023-03-30/election-m
<http://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2023-03-30/election-m>achines-cpac*
[35] Georgia law:
*https://bradblog.comhttps://rules.sos.ga.gov/gac/183-1-12-.05?urlRedirected=yes&
<http://rules.sos.ga.gov/gac/183-1-12-.05?urlRedirected=yes&>#038;data=admin&lookingfor=183-1-12-.05*
[36] recommended:
*https://bradblog.comhttps://www.cisa.gov/news-events/ics-advisories/icsa-22-154-
<http://www.cisa.gov/news-events/ics-advisories/icsa-22-154->01*
[37] recently told: *https://bradblog.comhttps://bradblog.com/?p=14659
<http://bradblog.com/?p=14659>*
[38] text:
*https://bradblog.comhttps://bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/GroupMessages_ChaneyThomasE
<http://bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/GroupMessages_ChaneyThomasE>ThomasClarkMcCulloughStone_24February2021.pdf*
[39] minutes:
*https://bradblog.comhttps://bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/CoffeeCountyElectionsBoard_
<http://bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/CoffeeCountyElectionsBoard_>Agenda_25February2021.pdf*
[40] noticed in advance:
*https://bradblog.comhttps://bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/MistyHamptonEricChaneyTextM
<http://bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/MistyHamptonEricChaneyTextM>essages_MeetingPublicNotice_FebruaryMarch2021.pdf*
[41] deposition:
*https://bradblog.comhttps://bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/CurlingVRaffensperger_EricC
<http://bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/CurlingVRaffensperger_EricC>haneyDeposition_15August2022.pdf*
[42] not a reason:
*https://bradblog.comhttps://bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/notareason.html
<http://bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/notareason.html>*
[43] 250 times: *https://bradblog.comhttps://bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/250.html
<http://bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/250.html>*
[44] signed:
*https://bradblog.comhttps://bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/CoffeeCountyElectionsBoardP
<http://bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/CoffeeCountyElectionsBoardP>ublicMinutes_Signed_25Feb2021ProducedOct2022.pdf*
[45] Coalition for Good Governance:
*https://bradblog.comhttps://coalitionforgoodgovernance.org
<http://coalitionforgoodgovernance.org>*
[46] concise document:
*https://bradblog.comhttps://bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/CoffeeCountyElectionsBoardP
<http://bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/CoffeeCountyElectionsBoardP>ublicMinutes_Unsigned_25Feb2021ProducedOct2022.pdf*
[47] their website: *https://bradblog.comhttps://sos.ga.gov/
<http://sos.ga.gov/>*
[48] highly vulnerable: *https://bradblog.comhttps://bradblog.com/?p=14693
<http://bradblog.com/?p=14693>*
[49] stubbornly refused:
*https://bradblog.comhttps://bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/stubbornrefusal.html
<http://bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/stubbornrefusal.html>*
[50] boilerplate response:
*https://bradblog.comhttps://bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/boilerplate.html
<http://bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/boilerplate.html>*
[51] guide to open meetings:
*https://bradblog.comhttps://www.accg.org/library/legal/Open
<http://www.accg.org/library/legal/Open> Meetings and Open Records Laws
2016.pdf*
[52] case law:
*https://bradblog.comhttps://bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/AppealsCourtGeorgia_Claxton
<http://bradblog.com/Docs/Coffee/AppealsCourtGeorgia_Claxton>EnterpriseVEvansCtyBdComm_6June2001.pdf*
[53] Georgia open meetings law:
*https://bradblog.comhttps://law.georgia.gov/document/here-4/download
<http://law.georgia.gov/document/here-4/download>*
[54] asked: *https://bradblog.comhttps://youtu.be/Rjw2cIHxyfQ?t=2030
<http://youtu.be/Rjw2cIHxyfQ?t=2030>*
[55] County Commissioners:
*https://bradblog.comhttps://qpublic.net/ga/coffee/index-com.html
<http://qpublic.net/ga/coffee/index-com.html>*
[56] Georgia's legislation enabling:
*https://bradblog.comhttps://www.legis.ga.gov/api/legislation/document/20132014/1
<http://www.legis.ga.gov/api/legislation/document/20132014/1>35112*
[57] Secretary of State's office:
*https://bradblog.comhttps://twitter.com/MarilynRMarks1/status/154592171271753728
<http://twitter.com/MarilynRMarks1/status/154592171271753728>2?s=20*
[58] Image: *https://bradblog.comhttps://twitter.com/MacFinn44/status/1365437816080109576
<http://twitter.com/MacFinn44/status/1365437816080109576>*
[59] at Coffee county's airport:
*https://bradblog.comhttps://twitter.com/MacFinn44/status/1365437816080109576
<http://twitter.com/MacFinn44/status/1365437816080109576>*
[60] website: *https://bradblog.comhttps://douglaslucas.com
<http://douglaslucas.com>*
[61] on Twitter: *https://bradblog.comhttps://twitter.com/DouglasLucas
<http://twitter.com/DouglasLucas>*
[62] on Instagram: *https://bradblog.comhttps://instagram.com/DouglasLucas
<http://instagram.com/DouglasLucas>*
Click here <https://bradblog.com/?p=14697&print=1#Print> to print.
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