Lt. Gov. Jones accused of seeking election server access in 2020, “a significant security breach” claims state election official

Republican Lt. Gov. Burt Jones allegedly sought access to election computers in Butts County after the 2020 election, a move that could have been illegal, according to emails presented in court. Jones, a state senator representing Butts County at the time, inquired about bringing in a “forensic analyst” to inspect the county’s elections management server in December 2020. Georgia election officials, including Ryan Germany, the general counsel for then-Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, deemed this request against the law, stating it would be a significant security breach.

Jones, one of 16 Republicans who sought to award Georgia’s electoral votes to Donald Trump after his loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 election, has maintained that he was concerned about protecting election security. According to his spokesperson, Chris Hartline, Jones received complaints from constituents in Butts County about irregularities in the voting process during the 2020 election.

However, Butts County Elections Director Brook Schreiner, who assumed her role in August 2021, stated that there were no vote-counting discrepancies in the county in 2020. She emphasized that the county’s election machines were secure and had passed a health check conducted by the secretary of state’s office.

Deputy Secretary of State Jordan Fuchs criticized Jones’s actions, calling them inappropriate and not indicative of mature leadership. The plaintiffs in the election security trial, which concluded recently, argued that the secretary of state’s safeguards are inadequate, urging the judge to bar the use of Georgia’s Dominion voting machines and require hand-filled ballots instead.

While prosecutors in Fulton County have implicated Jones in a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election, he has not been indicted. A judge ruled that Fulton District Attorney Fani Willis had a conflict of interest in investigating Jones, and a special prosecutor has yet to be appointed to consider the allegations against him.