Atlanta Magazine Inside the battle for Fulton County’s votes Reporter Johnny Kauffman spent four months embedded in the Fulton County elections department as its staff fought to protect democracy and their own lives—all while the eyes of the world were on Georgia. Photograph by Audra Melton On March 11, 2020, the Atlanta Hawks lost at home to the New York Knicks in overtime, 131 to 136, and the NBA abruptly suspended its season due to Covid-19. State Farm Arena’s newly renovated luxury suites would sit empty. And, sometime over those next eight months, water pressure began to build in the plumbing of one of the deserted bathrooms. In the wee hours of Election Day, November 3, a urinal overflowed, and water seeped through the floor and cascaded into the room below—where the Fulton County elections department had been processing mail-in ballots for days. It rained down near the machines used to open envelopes, optical scanners, and black plastic totes filled with ballots.