ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) — Fulton County officials admitted they did not properly sign tabulator tapes after the 2020 election, a violation of state law. The county also noted it had misplaced other tabulator tapes and documents related to the controversial election.

The admission was made by county attorney Ann Brumbaugh during a December 9, 2025 meeting of the State Elections Board.

Tabulator tapes are essentially receipts printed from ballot tabulation machines that help to verify the number of voters matches the number of votes. They are a key piece of the verification and certification process in every county election across the state.

Georgia law states that a poll manager and two witnesses be present for the printing, checking and signing of each tape from the machines.

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“We do not dispute that the tapes were not signed, it was a violation of the rule,” said county attorney Ann Brumbaugh. “It’s a violation of a rule, they should have done it.”

Brumbaugh said since the 2020 vote, the county has made significant changes to ensure it didn’t happen again.

“Procedures have been updated, people are taking this very seriously now,” she said. “Since then the training has been enhanced, the poll watchers are trained specifically, they’ve got to sign the tapes in the morning and they’ve got to sign the tapes when they’re run at the end of the day.”

Causing more concern, the unsigned tapes – around 130 of them from voting machines – accounted for some 315,000 early voters in 2020, almost every ballot cast before Election Day.

“At best, this is sloppy and lazy,” said Janelle King, a Republican member of the State Elections Board. “At worst, it could be egregious and it could have affected an election.”

The revelation made waves nationally. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger downplayed the error, saying it wouldn’t have changed the results of the heavily audited election.

“A clerical error at the end of the day does not erase valid, legal votes,” the secretary posted online. “Georgia has the most secure elections in the country and all voters were verified with photo ID and lawfully cast their ballots.”

For many in Georgia who still have questions about the 2020 election, the admission brought some daylight.

“It’s not vindication, it’s just about accuracy and the integrity and security of future elections,” said Garland Favorito, who leads the conservative election watchdog group VoterGA. “A clerical error could be one tabulator tape not signed or one tabulator tape missing. Not 148 tabulator tapes missing.”

The State Election Board eventually voted 3-0 to refer the case to the State Attorney General’s Office, where Fulton County could be fined as much as $5,000 for each missing or unsigned tape – well over 100 of them.

In another blow to the county, last week, Fulton County Judge Robert McBurney sided with the State Election Board and ruled that the county must turn over documents to the board, including scanned ballot images from the 2020 election, immediately. The county had been fighting the release of those documents for well over a year.

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