2020 election deniers ordered to pay $1 million in Pennsylvania voting machine dispute

By Zachary Cohen, CNN

(CNN) — A Pennsylvania judge has determined that three 2020 election deniers must pay nearly $1 million in fees as the result of a years-long legal dispute with state officials over voting equipment used during the last presidential race, according to recent court filings.

Recommendations from the judge, who was appointed to serve as a special master overseeing the case, attach a dollar figure to sanctions previously imposed by the state’s Supreme Court against two Republican county commissioners and their attorney for allowing an outside firm to examine voting equipment after the 2020 election – despite a court order prohibiting them to do so, according to the new filings.

The case, which dates back to 2021, involves actions taken by two Fulton County, Pennsylvania, commissioners – Stuart Ulsh and Randy Bunch – who sought to have Dominion voting equipment examined by a third-party after the 2020 election. Many of former President Donald Trump’s allies falsely blamed Dominion’s software for his election defeat.

Thomas Carroll, an attorney who also served as a pro-Trump fake elector in 2020, was also sanctioned by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court for his conduct and – along with the county and the county commissioners – “shall be jointly and severally responsible” for paying nearly $1 million in fees to cover the Pennsylvania Secretary of State’s legal bills, according to the special master’s latest report.

The state Supreme Court will ultimately use the special master recommendations in awarding fees and costs resulting from the case.

Last week’s special master report marks one of the final chapters of the Fulton County voting equipment dispute – one of several legal battles over unauthorized access to election systems that emerged from the 2020 presidential race.

In Fulton County, multiple outside firms were ultimately given unauthorized access to voting systems after the 2020 election without authorization from the Board of Elections, according to previous court filings in the special master probe. The third county commissioner only learned that an outside firm had been allowed to inspect the election equipment until after it was done, court filings show.

None of the third party groups granted access to the voting systems in Fulton County were contracted by the county itself or had the proper accreditation to carry out such an inspection, according to court records.

In July 2021, upon learning of the unauthorized inspection, the secretary of state’s office argued that the inspection itself had compromised the integrity of the equipment by undermining chain of custody requirements and access limitations necessary to prevent tampering.

The state secretary issued a directive barring county boards of elections from providing access to third parties seeking to examine state-certified voting systems. The directive provided for the revocation of funding from counties whose machines had been decertified under the directive and stated that Pennsylvania would not reimburse any cost of replacement voting equipment that had to be withdrawn.

The commissioners and their lawyers then launched legal proceedings.

During the proceedings, the state secretary learned that Fulton County intended to allow another entity, Envoy Sage LLC, to inspect the equipment. The secretary sought and received a protective order from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court barring such an inspection. In January 2022, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court entered the protective order.

Months after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court entered the protective order, the commissioners nonetheless allowed another party – Speckin Forensics – to inspect the voting equipment without the knowledge of the state, according to court papers. After the completion of that report, the county moved to sue Dominion, arguing that the machines were not fit for their intended use and purpose.

When Pennsylvania state officials brought the action to the attention of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, the court issued sanctions. It ordered the county officials to pay attorney’s fees and referred their attorney, Thomas Carroll to Pennsylvania’s attorney disciplinary board. The court also ordered the Dominion voting equipment to be placed in the custody of a neutral agent.

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