Georgia Election Official Challenges Illegal Absentee Vote

Georgia Election Official Challenges Illegal Absentee Vote
Gabriel Sterling, Voting Systems Manager for the Georgia Secretary of State's office, answers questions during a press conference on the status of ballot counting in Atlanta, Georgia, on Nov. 6, 2020. Jessica McGowan/Getty Images
Updated:

Gabriel Sterling, the voting systems manager for the Georgia Secretary of State’s office, filed a challenge Tuesday against an absentee ballot that was sent to his home with the name of the person who sold the house to him 2 years ago.

Sterling received a third-party election flyer at his home located in Sandy Spring, Georgia, reminding a voter with the name Meron Fissha to pick up the absentee ballot she requested and submit it as quickly as possible to guarantee her vote being counted.

Sterling’s challenge mentioned that Meron Fissha had moved to Maryland in 2018 after she sold her house to Sterling, Fox reported.

“It would have been absolutely illegal voting if this wasn’t stopped,” Sterling told Fox5.

The incident led to Sterling discover that Fissha cast her absentee ballot in the Nov. 3 election from his home’s address.

The voting record showed that Fissha requested and submitted her absentee ballot from Sterling’s house in the November election, despite not living there.

Sterling said that would be illegal voting.

Sterling wrote on Twitter that the Fulton Elections Board has acted and stated that Sterling’s challenge meets probable cause.

However, Sterling said that he and his boss, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, still think that they haven’t found evidence of widespread voter fraud and that his case is isolated, according to Fox.

Fox reported that they contacted Fissha, who admitted that she voted in November with Sterling’s home address. She said she will now update her address to Maryland, where she is temporarily helping her brother. She said she lives and works in Atlanta.