Debunking a Liberty County election rumor

An election rumor gaining steam in Liberty County was put to rest last week after a few questions were answered quickly. It’s an example of what elections workers nationwide are dealing with this year and how a few assumptions can morph into a conspiracy that undermines the voting process.

The Current received several photos that purported to be of Liberty County Elections and Registration staff “moving ballots in the middle of the night.” The source described the activity as being “Late at night like being sneaky watching folks watching them.”

Late-night surveillance

The photos show a woman bringing a rolling briefcase to a white SUV with a county tag, next to the side door of the county elections office in the Historic Courthouse. Another shows a person carrying out two tote bins similar to U.S. Mail tote bins. Another shows Elections and Registration Director Ronda Walthour standing with 2 other people near the SUV.

The photos were taken between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. on August 15, 2024, based on 3 screenshots of time stamped cellphone video (the source did not send the videos).

Based on those timestamps, The Current filed an Open Records Request with the county on Oct. 3 for security camera video between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. on Aug. 15, 2024. That video came from a camera over the ballot dropbox by the side door facing Zum Rosenhof Restaurant, a well-known political hotspot in downtown Hinesville.

A review of the footage, which Liberty County deputies monitor at the nearby Justice Center, showed a different angle of the same people as in the social media stills—as well as a fourth unidentified person seated on a bench in front of Zum Rosenhof.

About halfway through the footage, one vehicle leaves, then returns about 15 minutes later.

Soon after Walthour and her companions left about 10:49 p.m., a white car drove up near the bench across the street. A fifth person got out, then walked around with the fourth person who had been seated on the bench for several minutes.

A matter of record

Meanwhile, The Current also checked recordings and notes from previous meetings of the Elections and Registration Board for staff travel and training dates that were discussed and approved by the board.

Those records show that, on August 16, Liberty County election staff were scheduled to take part in a regional training workshop — which Walthour, as regional director, was in charge of presenting — in Richmond Hill.

Walthour confirmed that she and staff had been preparing for the workshop the following day, adding, “What ballots would I have had on August 15? There were none.”

Notes and recordings from previous Elections and Registration Board meetings back Walthour’s assertion.

Due to changes in election law , the county had to pay for all-new watermarked paper absentee / advance ballots. The existing, non-watermarked ballots are being kept securely for training purposes only and, because they are not watermarked, could not be cast successfully in any case.

And according to the Georgia Secretary of State Election Division’s 2024 Comprehensive Calendar , the proofread ballot text was due on August 9, the last day for the county to provide the state with information for the November 5 General Election ballot, and the deadline to post sample ballots for the public was September 23.

“That clears that up for sure”

The Current showed Walthour the photos. She confirmed that they showed herself, her brother, and a coworker.

“You can debunk it,” Walthour wrote in an e-mail. “The gentleman in the picture is my brother Raymond Gross, the [Liberty County] Recreation Director, the other person in the dress is one of my trainers, Nancy Franklin, and that’s me in the shorts. We just received our new county vehicle & returned to the office to get ready for the training the next day. The container contained training materials.”

The Current shared its findings with the source, who replied, “Thank you very much…That clears that up for sure.”

Election security rumors plague Georgia, nation

False rumors about election security are just one hassle local elections workers are dealing with as the November 5 election approaches.

The expense of all-new watermarked ballot paper weeks before the election cut into the department’s budget at a time when the Board of Commissioners had put off approving the county’s FY2025 budget for 90 days and frozen spending at existing levels.

In addition, the Board of Elections and Registration has been embroiled in negotiations with the City of Hinesville over collecting past-due fees for conducting city elections. The dispute, which has since been resolved, involved unclear wording about how to price election services in the memorandum of understanding between the city and county.

Other challenges elections officials are facing, both in Liberty County and around Georgia, include increased security measures, finding and training enough workers in time for the Nov. 5 election, and voter challenges driven by online activist sites.

Recently, about 200 Liberty County voters had their registrations challenged. Not one of those challenges was deemed valid.

False rumors about “suitcases full of ballots” at the Fulton County tabulation center in 2020 led to targeted harassment of elections workers Shaye Moss and her mother, Ruby Freeman , who eventually testified before the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack. Freeman said she had lost her reputation and her business as a result of the false rumor that she had handed Moss a compact flash card on which ballots were tallied; she testified that it had been “a ginger mint.” They later successfully sued former New York mayor and Trump attorney Rudolph Giuliani for $145 million .

Former President Donald Trump, the 2024 Republican nominee for president, has continued to claim falsely that voter fraud cost him the 2020 election. Since that night , elections officials in Georgia and other states have been threatened and have had to increase security measures to protect not only the ballots, but also the people whose responsibility it is to collect, count, and secure them.