Internal survey shows confusion among elections department

ATLANTA — In an internal survey obtained by Channel 2 Action News, Fulton County Elections employees say the 2012 presidential election was ripe with confusion, mismanagement and lack of training.

The Fulton County Department of Registration and Elections collected approximately 787 pages of voters and poll worker survey responses shortly after last November's election.

Through an open records request, Channel 2 Action News obtained hundreds of worker surveys which exposed problems that may have cost people their votes.

According to one survey, "one assistant manager had no knowledge of the provisional process nor how to find voter info."

One elections coordinator slammed the office for not registering voters in time, saying, "if there is time for parties during work hours, then there is time to process all voters.

Another commented: "not getting a handle on issues quickly allowed them to become a black eye and undermine our credibility."

"Very disturbing, we have a right as long as we are American citizens to vote in this country if you don't allow people to vote in this country, we are no longer a democracy," said Robert Voight, who volunteered on a campaign in Fulton County.

"It is our responsibility to fix it," Mary Norwood told Channel 2's Rachel Stockman. Norwood was appointed to the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections after the November election. Stockman showed Norwood the surveys.

"To have the actual data that shows the different staff positions, who was doing what and what they observed is critical to have good data going forward," explained Norwood.

A spokesperson for the Fulton County Department of Registration and Elections told Stockman that they are not in a position to comment on the surveys because they have not reviewed the documents.

WSBTV