American Oversight Statement on Court Allowing Georgia GOP’s Disruptive Intervention in Lawsuit Against State Election Board
The state Republican Party’s intervention in the Open Meetings Act lawsuit — despite the suit having nothing to do with election law — is further evidence of Republican intent to abuse the SEB for electoral advantage.
Nonpartisan watchdog American Oversight released the following statement in response to the Fulton County Superior Court’s decision to allow the Georgia Republican Party to intervene in the organization’s lawsuit against members of the State Election Board for their illegal July 12 meeting.
Statement from American Oversight Interim Executive Director Chioma Chukwu:
“The Georgia Republican Party’s intervention in and efforts to dismiss our lawsuit are thinly veiled attempts to shield three rogue members of the State Election Board from accountability so they are free to act for the benefit of the party’s preferred candidates. We are disappointed that today’s order will bolster the party’s efforts to disrupt this straightforward litigation.”
During the July 12 meeting, the board’s right-wing majority attempted to consider two controversial new election rules without legally required public notice or proper quorum. Public reporting revealed that the rules — which were withdrawn and reintroduced in a properly noticed meeting after American Oversight sued — had been provided to SEB members by the Georgia Republican Party.
American Oversight filed its lawsuit against the SEB and its three far-right members, Rick Jeffares, Janice Johnston, and Janelle King, on July 19 for violating the state’s Open Meetings Act. The Atlanta-based law firm Caplan Cobb LLC serves as co-counsel in this case.
The Georgia Republican Party filed a motion to intervene on July 25 — without providing required notice to American Oversight — claiming to advance an interest in how the state runs elections, despite the lawsuit having nothing to do with election law itself.
In the motion, the GOP claims the lawsuit is about “the way in which elections within the state of Georgia are conducted and certified” and that “the [Republican Party] is harmed by deviations from the established elections process.” However, American Oversight’s claims in the case are based entirely on the state’s Open Meetings Act and expressly disclaim any attempt to “challenge [the] substantive merits” of the election rule changes. The GOP’s motion makes no mention of the Open Meetings Act.
Before the court ruled on the GOP’s motion (meaning it was not yet a proper party to the case), the GOP last week filed a motion to dismiss the case altogether. This motion again makes no mention of the Open Meetings Act, nor does it refer to the GOP’s earlier complaints about state election administration. Instead, the motion to dismiss focuses entirely on a technical sovereign immunity argument, a defense typically only raised by government agencies on their own behalf. American Oversight will be filing an opposition to the motion to dismiss, urging the court to reject the Republican Party’s argument.
Background
Following American Oversight’s lawsuit and subsequent motion for a preliminary injunction seeking to block the board from moving forward with the rules advanced during the illegal meeting, the SEB rescinded all actions and agreed to consider the two rules at its August meeting.
Public reporting revealed that one of the two rules proposed on July 12 had been provided to Jeffares by Georgia GOP Chair Josh McKoon in apparent coordination with the Republican National Committee. A similar version of the other rule, which purported to increase the number of partisan poll monitors observing ballot counting at Georgia tabulation centers, was reportedly also shared by the state’s Republican Party. Last month, the board advanced both rules.
On Aug. 2, during a campaign rally in Atlanta, former President Trump lavished praise on Jeffares, Johnston, and King, calling them “pit bulls fighting for honesty, transparency and victory.” Trump’s remarks followed similar adulation from Cleta Mitchell, a longtime proponent of voting restrictions who aided the former president in his attempt to remain in power after the 2020 election.
The composition of the five-member SEB, which is tasked with administering the state’s elections, has drastically changed since 2021, when the Republican-led legislature stripped Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger of his role as board chair. The board has since been remade in the former president’s image, with the three Trump-aligned members questioning whether President Biden won Georgia in 2020.
In recent months, the board has considered a bevy of controversial changes to the administration of state elections that would go into effect just months before the November elections. In August, the SEB approved a rule requiring local election officials to conduct “reasonable inquiries” before certifying election results, and advanced another requiring workers in each polling place to hand-count ballots.