The plaintiff in an election lawsuit in Georgia on Monday served a subpoena on State Farm Arena seeking video footage filmed on the premises during and after Election Day.
The subpoena names the Atlanta Hawks, State Farm Arena, and Scott Wilkinson, the executive vice president and chief legal officer of both entities. Wilkinson did not respond to a message left on his voicemail.
The subpoena seeks all recordings taken between midnight Nov. 3 and midnight Nov. 5. The request specifically calls for recordings taken in and around “Room 604,” all elevators that provide access to the floor where that room is located, and all loading docks in the arena.
The plaintiff in the lawsuit, attorney Lin Wood, sent a public Twitter message on Nov. 23 to the defendant, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, citing the subpoena.
“Would someone ask my never-to-be friend Brad Raffensperger @GaSecofState if he has seen this tape of election fraud at State Farm Arena,” Wood wrote. “Several people have seen it. Many more will see it soon. Video camera eye does not lie. How do you spell Election Fraud?”
Wood did not respond to an emailed request for more details. Raffensperger’s office did not respond to an email seeking comment.
Judge Steven Grimberg on Tuesday stayed the discovery in the case in response to a challenge to the subpoena filed by some of the defendants.
Wood’s subpoena further demands all documents related to plumbing issues on the premises during the Nov. 3-5 time frame. The request is linked to a pipe that purportedly burst in State Farm Arena on the morning of Election Day. County officials said on the night of Nov. 3 that the plumbing incident caused a two-hour delay to vote counting in a room where absentee ballots were tabulated.
A local attorney who filed a records request about the burst pipe only received a text message exchange about the incident describing it as “highly exaggerated … a slow leak that caused about an hour-and-a-half delay” and that “we contained it quickly—it did not spread,” according to News.com.au.
“Beyond the lack of documentary evidence of the inspection or repair of a ruptured pipe, we are being asked to believe that there is not one single picture of this allegedly ruptured pipe, at a time and in a place where virtually everything is recorded and documented,” Paul Dzikowski, the attorney who obtained the text messages told the Australian news outlet.
President Donald Trump mentioned the pipe incident in remarks shortly after Election Day.
“In Georgia, a pipe burst in a far away location, totally unrelated to the location of what was happening and they stopped counting for four hours,” the president said.
After a risk-limiting, Georgia certified former Vice President Joe Biden as the winner of the presidential election in the state. Trump has not conceded the race and his campaign has said that a lawsuit will soon be filed in Georgia. On Tuesday, the Peach State will begin a recount requested by the Trump campaign.
Trump is also litigating election challenges in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Nevada, while a recount is ongoing in two counties in Wisconsin.
