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The
step comes after video surveillance footage made public recently
showed outsiders accessing Coffee County voting machines and
copying sensitive software and data.
The Washington Post has reported that forensics experts working
last year for pro-Trump attorney Sidney Powell copied virtually
every component of the voting system. Powell alleged voter fraud
after the 2020 election, but federal and local investigations
showed otherwise.
"To allay the fears being stoked by perennial election deniers
and conspiracy theorists, we're replacing Coffee County's
election machines," Raffensperger said in a statement on Friday,
adding that the probe into the former officials who allowed the
unauthorized access would continue.
"But the current election officials in Coffee County have to
move forward with the 2022 election, and they should be able to
do so without this distraction," he said.
Separately in Georgia, a grand jury in the Fulton County is
probing efforts by Trump to overturn the former president's 2020
election defeat.
Trump has falsely claimed that rampant voter fraud caused his
loss in Georgia, a battleground state where President Joe
Biden's victory helped propel him to the White House.
The special grand jury in Fulton County is undertaking a
criminal investigation into alleged wrongdoing. Trump was
recorded in a Jan. 2, 2021, phone call pressuring Raffensperger
to "find" enough votes to overturn his loss to Biden in the
state.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing. The grand jury had also
subpoenaed Trump allies and members of his former legal team.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Alistair
Bell)
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