Police arrest man accused of stealing critical voting machines

COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Cobb County police have arrested a suspect accused of stealing polling equipment.

The four machines were stolen on Saturday from a car parked at the Kroger on Canton Road in Cobb County.

The so-called ExpressPoll machines were the computers poll workers used to check-in voters, and check those off who cast ballots for the Piedmont Road precinct in Marietta.

The computers contain accessible voter information including names, addresses and driver’s license numbers.

Detectives served a search warrant around 1 a.m. Wednesday at a home in Clayton County, where they recovered a cell phone that was also stolen from the car.

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After talking with the suspect and several additional accomplices, officers determined that the election equipment was deemed useless by the alleged thieves and tossed into a trash dumpster over the weekend.

The dumpster has since been emptied and deposited into a landfill.

Cobb County police say they believe any effort to retrieve the stolen equipment in the landfill would be unsuccessful.

“I deeply appreciate the thorough and swift actions of the Cobb County Police,” said Cobb County Chairman Mike Boyce. “Their efforts complemented the work done by the Board and the County staff to assure the candidates and voters that the County was doing everything possible to protect the integrity of the voting process.”

Voting for the 6^th Congressional District race at the Piedmont Road precinct went off without a hitch Tuesday despite the thefts.

Democrat Jon Ossoff and Republican Karen Handel are headed to a runoff on June 20.

[Click here for real-time election results]

Cox Media Group