Suitcases of secret ballots were pulled from under a table in Fulton County
| Suitcases of secret ballots were pulled from under a table in Fulton County | |
|---|---|
| FALSE | |
| "Poll workers in Atlanta secretly pulled suitcases of fraudulent ballots from under a table after observers were sent home." | |
| Domain | Politics & Elections |
| Tactic | Manipulation Conspiracy Theory |
| Era | Current |
| First seen | 2020 |
| Origin | Edited security footage promoted by Rudy Giuliani at a Georgia state Senate hearing, December 2020 |
| Last reviewed | 2026-11-03 |
| Further reading: books on Politics & Elections | |
The claim that suitcases of secret ballots were pulled from under a table in Fulton County came from a heavily edited clip of State Farm Arena surveillance video shown to Georgia legislators in December 2020.
What the evidence shows
- Full footage shows routine work. The containers were standard ballot storage boxes kept under the table, and counting continued with monitors present.
- Observers were not sent home. Georgia officials said the count had not been halted for observers.
- Investigations found no fraud. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Secretary of State's office reviewed the video and found no wrongdoing.
- Real people were harmed. Election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss were targeted with threats. In December 2023 a federal jury in Washington, D.C. awarded them about $148 million in a defamation case against Giuliani.
Why it persists
A short clip with no context is easy to share, and a courtroom verdict rarely travels as far as the original video.
Lessons for readers
- Ask for the full, unedited recording before drawing conclusions from a clip.
See also
- Two Fulton County election workers passed a USB drive to rig the count
- Thousands of dead people voted in Georgia in 2020
Sources
- Georgia Secretary of State, statements and investigation summary, December 2020.
- Freeman v. Giuliani, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, verdict of December 15, 2023.