American Oversight v. Georgia State Election Board — Access to Election-Related Public Records
Nov 04, 2024
American Oversight Reaches Settlement in Lawsuit Against Georgia State Election Board
It’s a victory for accountability heading into 2026 as board members intensify their conspiratorial push of anti-voter policies. Our suit led to new safeguards requiring board members to properly preserve public records of official actions.
Wednesday, American Oversight announced a settlement in its lawsuit against the Georgia State Election Board (SEB) and board member Janice Johnston, resolving claims that Johnston had significantly delayed responses to our public records requests in the run-up to the 2024 election by refusing to allow SEB staff to access her official emails. The agreement was confirmed by a vote of the SEB at its meeting today.
“When officials who continue to challenge the results of the 2020 election are put in charge of ensuring ‘fair, legal and orderly elections’ in Georgia — but do so behind closed doors — the integrity of our elections is at risk,” said Chioma Chukwu, Executive Director of American Oversight. “No Georgian should have to question whether they’ll be disenfranchised simply because those administering elections disagree with their views. Today’s settlement makes clear that election officials are not above the law — they must comply with state transparency requirements, and if they don’t, they will be held accountable.”
We filed our lawsuit just days before the 2024 election after the SEB and Johnston — an election denier who had been in contact with other election conspiracy figures — failed to produce communications we requested under the Georgia Open Records Act about official board business. At the time, SEB members, including Johnston, used Gmail for SEB correspondence. We learned that Johnston would not provide the SEB’s open records officer access to her SEB Gmail account to search for responsive public records, which we contended contributed to delays of up to six months. The litigation followed widespread concerns about the board’s transparency, particularly amid efforts by election deniers to influence state election administration.
Following our lawsuit, the SEB switched from Gmail accounts to the Georgia government’s standard Microsoft Outlook email accounts, allowing the board’s open records officer to search for responsive public records without interference.
Under the settlement agreement, the SEB will require that board members conduct board business exclusively through those official government email accounts. Board members must also forward any communications about board matters received on personal accounts, including texts or messages received on ephemeral messaging apps like Signal, to their official addresses, ensuring such records are preserved and accessible under Georgia’s open records laws. By establishing clearer policies for record retention and access, the settlement strengthens public oversight of the board’s actions ahead of the 2026 elections. We are represented in the litigation by our own attorneys and by Atlanta-based law firm Arnall Golden Gregory LLP.
Despite multiple recounts, state investigations, and court rulings confirming the integrity of the 2020 election, the SEB has continued to relitigate those results — focusing on Fulton County’s handling of the recount and, most recently, calling for the U.S. Department of Justice to intervene.
The SEB is increasingly embracing discredited election-fraud conspiracies and advancing structural changes that threaten free and fair elections in Georgia. The board’s apparent “wishlist” for the 2026 cycle includes eliminating no-excuse absentee voting and mandating hand-marked paper ballots, measures that presume the system is broken and legitimate votes must be managed differently. Rather than simply overseeing elections, the SEB is attempting to advance a partisan agenda by reshaping the rules under a framework of distrust and suspicion.
In recent weeks, Board Member Johnston has come under scrutiny over an online effort to fund her legal defense. According to media reports, the fund has accepted more than $30,000, including $10,000 from an anonymous donor. The initiative was launched by Salleigh Grubbs, the first vice-chair of the Georgia Republican Party, who has had business before the SEB.
Today’s settlement announcement follows our recent victory in the Georgia Court of Appeals in a related case challenging the SEB’s violation of the Georgia Open Meetings Act. In that case, the court found that the board’s secret decision-making violated the state’s transparency laws and reinstated our lawsuit, marking a significant win for open government and accountability.