ATLANTA – An election official in Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s 14th congressional district said voting records dispute her assertion at a federal court hearing last week that her husband served as an example of likely fraudulent voting practices in Georgia’s 2020 election.

Pete McDonald, Floyd County’s interim election supervisor, told CNHI that Greene’s husband, Perry Greene, had requested a mailed absentee mail ballot but surrendered it so he could cast his ballot in person during the three weeks of early voting.

Greene testified under oath her husband did not request a mailed ballot and when he showed up to vote in person he was told he had  already voted absentee. 

The first-term Republican congresswoman from Georgia made the statement  in court a week ago at the federal administrative hearing on a challenge by five constituents seeking to disqualify her from reelection because of activities surrounding the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

At one point during the hearing, lawyers for the challengers asked Greene if she believed Democrat Joe Biden had lost the 2020 election.

Her reply:

 “Yes. We saw a tremendous amount of voter fraud. We have investigations going on right now in Georgia. There is investigation going on in multiple states. My husband showed up to vote and when he went to vote he went to vote in person, he was told he had already voted by absentee ballot when, in fact, he had never requested an absentee ballot. There is many instances.”

McDonald said Floyd County voting records contradict the statement about her husband’s voting experience and an inference of election fraud.

He said the records show Perry Greene requested a mailed ballot, which he had done in previous elections, but did not mail it or put it in a secure drop box.

Instead, McDonald said, he brought the absentee ballot to a polling station, surrendered it to election officials and cast an early in-person vote.

CNHI sought to ask Rep. Greene to explain the difference between her court statement and the election records. Her office responded:  “You misunderstood her. She said her husband never requested  it (mailed absentee ballot).”

There was no indication in the records that when her husband showed up for early voting, he was jolted to learn he had already voted absentee. McDonald said he relinquished his right to vote absentee by mail so he could vote in person, a legal option in Georgia.

“Even though it is registered as absentee in the system, the early voting is referred to as an absentee ballot as well because you’re casting an absentee in person,” said McDonald.

Walter Jones, a communications manager in the Secretary of State’s office, said there were four complaints from Floyd County voters about absentee ballots in the 2020 election, but no violations — such as persons voting twice, by mail and in person – were found.

Georgians voted in record numbers by mail, early in-person and at the polls in the 2020 general election. Biden defeated incumbent President Donald Trump by 11,779 votes of 4,935,487 cast, becoming the first Democrat since Bill Clinton in 1992 to win the state’s presidential election.

Georgia election officials recounted the votes by hand due to the slim margin.

Trump and his supporters still insisted voter fraud, with Trump personally imploring Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” just enough votes to declare Trump the winner. Raffensperger refused Trump’s solicitation.

The lawsuit by Greene’s constituents contends she violated a provision of the 14^th Amendment by engaging in an insurrection to block the peaceful transfer of power. Greene strongly objected to the challenge in her court testimony, insisting she has never condoned violence.

She was the first member of Congress to publicly testify about the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, and the political effort by Greene and several other Republicans to stop Congress from certifying  Biden’s victory.

The judge overseeing the federal court hearing will rule on the merits of the challenge to Greene’s candidacy for reelection, delivering his findings to Raffensperger, who has the final decision.

CNHI Atlanta reporter Asia Ashley contributed to this story. Reach her at aashley@cnhi.com.