Following the discovery of "discrepancies" and without knowing precise totals, the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections (BRE) held an emergency meeting on Sunday, June 5, 2022, to recertify the results of the 2022 primary election. The impromptu session is cause for concern because the certification of election results is an official act, duty, and solemn responsibility. As expressed by Kevin Moncla, the decision to certify an election is one "that obviously and inherently requires command of the facts, understanding of the process, and due diligence to authenticate and reconcile the results—all impossible without having the exact numbers, much less no numbers at all."
BRE vice-chair Dr. Kathleen Ruth oversaw the spur-of-the-moment meeting, with board members Aaron Johnson and Teresa Crawford also in attendance. Fulton County Election Director Nadine Williams stated that the meeting was taking place under "emergency provisions" because the Georgia Secretary of State (SoS) required Fulton County to certify the May 24 primary election results before 9:00 AM on Monday, June 6, "and there was simply no other time in which a meeting could be held with a Quorum." Williams added that Fulton County Information Systems Manager Dominic Olomo would further explain why recertification of the results was necessary.
The BRE gave little public notice about the meeting, and the standard live stream link on the Fulton County website was inaccessible. Likewise, the meeting instead streamed on Facebook and began one hour late. It was not open to public comment.
On Monday, June 6, citing procedures void of transparency, Kevin Moncla filed an official complaint against the BRE's last-minute measures with the Georgia State Election Board, including Mr. Matt Mashburn, Dr. Jan Johnston, Mr. Edward Lindsey, Mrs. Sara Tindall Ghazal, and Mr. Brad Raffensperger. Requesting immediate attention from the Board, Moncla's detailed claim asserts that the noticeable silence about the meeting, along with the "impromptu recertification of election results on a Sunday afternoon," is simply unacceptable.
A Quick Look at Dominic Olomo's History with Fulton County
Since Sept. 24, 2021, Dominic Olomo has held the position of Information Systems Manager for the Fulton County Department of Registration and Elections. Before that, he was Election Equipment Supervisor for Fulton County/Happy Faces Personnel Group from Aug. 2020 to Jan. 2021 and Tech Support Supervisor for Dominion Voting Systems from Dec. 2019 to Aug. 2020.
Already at the center of tabulator poll tape issues and missing absentee-by-mail ballot images in the 2020 general election, one can readily question Olomo's credibility. A quick comparison between Olomo's sworn testimony in a Sept. 4, 2020 deposition in an ongoing Georgia lawsuit challenging the vulnerabilities and potential manipulation of the state's voting system and the employment application for his current job reveals discrepancies in details he provided about his college education.
In the 2020 deposition, when asked on page 18 about any formal education after his bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Olomo declared he also has a "master's in applied geology." He explained he studied the subject for three years to get his master's because "my brothers are applied geophysics, so I did that because they were starting a company together, so I just wanted to have a degree in that." However, when asked, "What is your highest level of education?" on the government job application with the Fulton County Department of Human Resources, Olomo states "Bachelor's Degree" (in Computer Science) in all four instances where the question is asked.
Olomo lists Nadine Williams—who took over Rick Barron's position when he left in April—as a professional reference on the application for his current $76,660/year position and his previous position of Assistant Election System Supervisor for Fulton County. Prior to taking over for Barron, Williams served as Elections Equipment Manager of Fulton County elections.
Olomo's Unbelievable Explanation for Recertification
When asked by Dr. Ruth to describe the reason for the emergency meeting, Moncla notes that Olomo explains it is due to a discrepancy in the election results, which he asserts was the result of poll managers failing to save the correct election results files to the tabulator's compact flash card (CF card). At 1:03:00 in the video, Olomo states:
"On yesterday, we found out that we had some precinct had some compact flash card. During election night, we extract result files, images, and log files from CF cards, from compact flash cards. We found out some precincts have discrepancies. Some CF cards were not pulling—some precincts were not pulling result files. Some were pulling images and log files. While some would have some images and log files, not result files. The result file is where we, you know, we use it to do the tabulation. Import the result. The images input ballot images, The log file gives us the activity on the scanner, at the precinct level. So, we have those discrepancies, and it was just like, you know—know how to say—technical issue."
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Not accepting Olomo's reason for recertification of the primary results, Moncla—who has spent an enormous amount of time probing inconsistent election practices in Georgia— asserts, "Not only are Mr. Olomo's claims incorrect, but they are also impossible." Moncla points out that when speaking of compact flash cards, Olomo is referencing the Dominion ImageCast Precinct (ICP) tabulators at each polling location. The ICP automatically stores "ALL" data on two compact flash cards, "each of which is an identical copy of the other for redundancy." The twin compact flash cards are the only place in the ICP where election information is stored. Highlighting the ICP's process during an election, Moncla notes:
"During an election, as ballots are scanned, the ICP saves the electronic copy of ballot image to the compact flash cards. Also saved on the compact flash cards during the course of the election is a running tally for each candidate, for each race, or contest. Lastly, a system log or "SLOG," which lists each tabulator activity, is also stored on the compact flash cards.
In summary, the ballot images, vote count, and system logs are all maintained/stored/saved on the compact flash cards and ONLY the compact flash cards for the duration of the election.
When the poll closes at 7 PM on election day, the poll manager selects the option on the ICP to "close the poll." The ICP then counts the tallies for each contest (tabulates), prints the poll closing tapes, and then automatically saves the results to the only place it can—to the compact flash cards.
There is no action required by the poll manager to save any of the information to the compact flash cards as it is done automatically. In fact, even if the poll manager failed to close the polls on the ICP, all of the election information would still exist on the card, with the exception of the sum total for each contest (this essentially describes the Georgia Advance Voting process)."
Screenshot / Official Complaint: 2022 Fulton County Primary Recertification
Moncla stresses absolutely no other storage medium for election information related to the ICP besides the two compact flash cards. His complaint states that once the polls close and the tabulator tapes are printed, poll managers remove the compact flash cards from the ICP and deliver them to Fulton County's English Street Warehouse. Once the compact flash cards are delivered, Olomo and one other Fulton County employee are responsible for uploading them to the Fulton County Election Management Server. Finally, Moncla explains that after the compact flash cards from every polling location are uploaded, the election results are published to the Georgia SoS.
Understanding the entire process and that election results are automatically saved to the two compact flash cards within each ICP machine where all election information exists, Moncla maintains that Mr. Olomo's justification to the board for the discrepancy in the primary election results is false. Furthermore, Moncla explains, "Mr. Olomo is a former Dominion employee and has several years of experience with this very same equipment in this same location, which all but removes any possibility that he is mistaken or incompetent."
Without Knowing "Discrepancy" Details, Election is Recertified
Following Olomo's explanation and before voting to recertify the primary election results, Dr. Ruth asks Olomo "how the problems necessitating recertification can be prevented in the future." Olomo declares he has prepared an SOP (standard operating procedure) and a checklist for poll managers to ensure they get the correct files. Again, Moncla points out—no procedure or process can ensure what already happens automatically, as all files are stored on the compact flash cards regardless of what the poll manager does or does not do.
Dr. Ruth proceeds to ask Olomo about the size of the discrepancy between the primary election results previously certified and what was to be recertified at the emergency Sunday meeting. In his complaint, Moncla emphasizes that Dr. Ruth asks Olomo specifically about the difference between the two results, "or how many votes were being added." Remarkably, Mr. Olomo responds by saying that he can get Dr. Ruth that information at another time. A shocked Moncla describes what happened next:
"The Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections then voted to recertify the election results without knowing the totals they were certifying nor the difference between what they had already certified and what they were recertifying."
Moncla's complaint—filed electronically with the original sent via U.S. Certified Mail—asks the Georgia State Election Board (SEB) to immediately call for an emergency meeting and urges them to vote to reject the Fulton County primary certification. He insists that Fulton County's result certification must follow a proper SEB verification. Furthermore, Moncla asks the SEB to open an investigation to uncover the actual cause of any election results discrepancy and the motivations behind Mr. Olomo's false statements to the Fulton County BRE, adding:
"Considering that Mr. Olomo is also responsible for the UN-CERTIFIED poll tapes representing over 311,000 votes for the 2020 general election as detailed in a previously filed complaint, I ask that the SEB place Mr. Olomo on paid leave pending the outcome of the investigation."
VIDEO: Link to Fulton County Emergency Meeting (begins at the 59-minute mark)
