Mark Swanson had been asking for open records documents in Floyd County for a while, ever since January of 2021. The first thing he discovered is that records were challenging to get. The second is that they were expensive.
Swanson said the routine was that he would file a request and then wait. He would get some of the records, ask about any missing records, and then wait. A lot were redacted. Even standard policies, such as the COVID policy, were redacted.
The records were important thoughts because they back up everything he said. He currently puts everything he finds on his Facebook page without a lot of comment from him. He said the records speak for themselves.
The Floyd County Election superintendent during the 2020 election was Robert Brady. The news relayed the fact he was fired after the election when officials allegedly found 2600 votes in his desk drawer. That isn’t exactly what happened, according to Swanson.
The Floyd County Commission rescinded the firing and allowed Brady to resign.
Swanson talked to Brady and got letters that are a part of the county records related to it through the Open Records Act. According to his evidence and witnesses, Brady and a Dominion employee, Aric Thompson, went to address a tabulator machine issue election day at one of the precincts. The machine was jammed because a female voter crumbled her ballot before she put it into the tabulator. They had to take the ballots to the election office to run them through the tabulator.
Brady also took the memory card out of the machine and replaced it to correct the problem. He stored the memory card in his desk because they were running all the ballots, including those already listed on the memory card, through the tabulator at the election office to avoid duplication.
Floyd County started a hand a recount on Nov. 11, 2020. Brady was told by county officials on Nov. 12 that he had been COVID traced and to go home for 14 days. Brady took a test and didn’t have the virus. Thompson called him at home on Nov. 16 saying 2700 votes wouldn’t transfer on the computer to balance the votes, but Brady told him he couldn’t come in.
Thompson made a phone call and left shortly after, according to those monitoring the recount. Two Dominion technicians came in and reset the system, allowing the votes to balance. However, that is when officials found the memory card in Brady’s desk.
Swanson said he got records of Brady’s COVID trace and found it went back to another county employee. That employee worked by himself and never had COVID, although his wife tested positive.
“They could not allow Robert to be there because he would have discovered the (problems) during the hand recount,” Swanson said.
Swanson spoked to the Georgia Election Board about his discoveries, but members ignored his concerns. He was scheduled to speak again and even traveled to the board meeting. Swanson left when he was told his address would have to wait until the end. He had a death in the family and couldn’t wait.
Later, County attorney Virginia Harman alleged he was thrown out of the second meeting.
Swanson said he was relieved when Senate Bill 202, sponsored by State Sen. Chuck Hufstetler, passed because he thought that would amount to true election reform. He said it would allow a performance review, technically an audit, of the election system, he said.
“All it takes is three violations and you could completely replace the election office,” Swanson said.
He said the review could be ordered by a county commission and the Secretary of State would be obligated to assemble a team. They would have 60 days to make a report. State delegates for the area could make the request to the Secretary of State if the county commission chose not to do so.
Swanson said he met with the Floyd County state delegation without Hufstetler several times to initiate a request from them if the Floyd County commission denied his request at an upcoming meeting. They were on board but never wanted to look at his evidence of election issues. He then met with Hufstetler, who said he would talk to the commission to assure success in the vote.
That didn’t happen. Swanson flew to Chicago on business but had a friend go to the meeting to record the vote. The chairman said Hufstetler called with another option to avoid the Secretary of State’s office getting involved in an audit. The option was to call it a peer review and allow those in the election office to pick the team members to do it.
The meeting also included a report by an Atlanta civil rights attorney. Swanson said that it was to change the narrative. Until that point, Swanson’s discoveries and speeches before the county commission were about discrepancies during the election.
“The election board called him to come in,” he said. “The county made it a race issue.”
The issue over Swanson going over three minutes in speaking to the commission, which was the basis of his arrest, isn’t a county policy. Harman said it was a “home rule” but he said it isn’t enforced as many go beyond the three-minute time limit.
Another incident in Swanson’s legal odyssey was when County Clerk Barbara Pinson wanted him to be on the Floyd County Board of Equalization on August 9, 2024. It made sense because he had been a loan officer, a bank president, and understood numbers.
He found out names were submitted to Patterson, which isn’t in any of the laws pertaining to equalization board appointments. Like all candidates, he went to be reviewed by the grand jury about a month later. Patterson tried to get him excluded to the point that one juror stood up and asked a question, according to Swanson.
“Why doesn’t the DA want you to serve?”
Swanson tried to answer but Patterson interrupted. Eventually, the foreman told Swanson to leave. He left two affidavits on the table. One was the powers of the grand jury and the other was regarding handling law violations.
Swanson filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Floyd County and others Oct. 25, 2024. A Floyd County grand jury indicted Swanson on an obstruction charge Nov. 22, 2024.
More to come about Floyd County election irregularities.
The first part of an exclusive interview with Mark Swanson relating to his arrest during a public meeting and upcoming trial is available on Rumble and YouTube.. He offers meetings every Thursday to discuss election integrity. You can find out more by going on his Facebook page here.
Melody Dareing is a freelance writer for publications in the U.S., Canada, the UK, and Germany. She is a former news director of Adelphia Channel 4 and WBHF Radio.