HARRISBURG, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — A long and winding court battle over unauthorized access to machines from Dominion Voting Systems has wrapped up in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania — with a scathing opinion that finds Fulton County in civil contempt.
Justice David Wecht wrote in the 79-page majority opinion that county officials “engaged in a sustained, deliberate pattern of dilatory, obdurate and vexatious conduct and have acted in bad faith throughout these sanction proceedings.”
After the 2020 election, amid unfounded claims of widespread election fraud by Donald Trump, Fulton County allowed an outside firm access to their voting system. They claimed it was an attempt to ensure the system was properly tabulating votes.
But the Pennsylvania secretary of state decertified the machines, saying that the unauthorized inspection compromised the machines’ integrity.
The county challenged that, and the state Supreme Court told Fulton County no one else could access the machines while decisions were under appeal.
However, as Fulton County’s attorneys delayed the hearings, the county allowed another company access to the machines. That compromised the evidentiary value of the machines after the initial inspection, Wecht wrote.
Fulton County and its attorney Thomas Carroll are ordered to pay ongoing storage costs of the machines, along with legal fees for the secretary of state and other costs yet to be tabulated. Carroll is also being referred to the Disciplinary Board for further review of his actions during the case.
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