Capitol News

Rumors are swirling on social media  that a reported water pipe leak that caused delays in the counting of 30,000 ballots was intentional. 

The rumors have not been substantiated in any form. 

The burst pipe did not affect the absentee-by-mailing ballots according to election officials, who said the voting process in the county went better than it did during the June primary elections where voters waited for long hours to cast votes.

According to the chairman of the Fulton Commission, Robb Pitts, the pipe was fixed within two hours and did not damage any of the ballots.

The incident led to the delay in the counting of presidential and congressional votes.

Scanning of absentee ballots was halted at 10:30 p.m. for no official reason, raising more questions of foul play. A statement was released later saying it was normal procedure.

“As planned, Fulton County will continue to tabulate the remainder of absentee ballots over the next two days. Absentee ballot processing requires that each ballot is opened, signatures verified, and ballots scanned. This is a labor-intensive process that takes longer to tabulate than other forms of voting. Fulton County did not anticipate having all absentee ballots processed on Election Day,” read the statement issued by county spokesperson.

The Georgia Republican Party did not respond to requests for comment. 

“On election night Trump was about to win Georgia, when news of a water main pipe burst at State Farm Arena, which  prevented 40,000 ballots from being counted. The pipe burst delayed counting for enough time to pad the numbers for Biden - But it Turns out that was a complete lie!” a Twitter user posting under the name Stonewall Jackson posted.