Georgia's Floyd County fires election director after finding uncounted ballots

close

Video

Fox News Flash top headlines for November 20

Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com.

The Board of Elections in Georgia's Floyd County voted Thursday to oust Chief of Elections Clerk Robert Brady after officials found thousands of uncounted ballots.

Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger blamed the problem on Floyd County election officials failing to upload votes from a memory card in a ballot-scanning machine.

GEORGIA ELECTION AUDIT FINDS 3,039 MORE UNCOUNTED BALLOTS IN 2 COUNTIES

Raffensperger had initially asked for Brady to step down and Floyd County officials met to discuss the decision before firing him, according to FOX 5 Atlanta.

They cited at least two previous incidents over the past six months as the reasons for his termination.

During a hand audit in the Peach State, election officials uncovered more than 2,600 ballots that were not counted before the county's initial certification, forcing election workers to rescan more than 8,000 ballots. 

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger speaks during a news conference on Friday, Nov. 20, 2020, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Both Republicans and Democrats reportedly agreed that firing Brady was necessary, though they don't believe the error was made purposefully.

Georgia began a hand recount of all votes last week after the Republican Party and the Trump campaign requested a statewide audit.

The review didn't change the results. On Thursday, Raffensperger announced that he would certify President-elect Joe Biden won the state. Biden captured 12,000 votes 

In the end, the hand count confirmed that the former vice president won by more than 12,000 votes out of about five million cast.

While there were some slight differences from the previous machine tally, no county showed a variation in margin larger than 0.73%, according to The Associated Press. 

“Working as an engineer throughout my life, I live by the motto that numbers don’t lie," Raffensperger told reporters during a news conference at the state capitol. “As secretary of state, I believe that the numbers that we have presented today are correct. The numbers reflect the verdict of the people, not a decision by the secretary of state’s office or of courts or of either campaign.”

Video

Just a two-hour drive away in nearby Fayette County, more than 2,750 uncounted ballots were also discovered during the audit.

Georgia Election official Gabriel Sterlin said the issue was the result of several individuals not following proper procedure.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP

Walton County -- just an hour away from Fayette County -- found an additional 284 ballots.

The county's Board of Elections chair, Lori Wood, told the Walton Tribune on Tuesday that the problem was due to votes being previously uploaded from only one of the two ballot scanners in a precinct.

Fox News' David Aaro, Ronn Blitzer and the Associated Press contributed to this report.