Newsletter: Secrecy and Partisanship in the Georgia State Election Board

Anti-voting activists continue seeking to disrupt voting and certification processes in Georgia. In Florida, a court ruled that Gov. Ron DeSantis must release certain public travel records.

Far-Right Georgia State Election Board Members Seek More Control Over Elections

As the far-right majority of the Georgia State Election Board accelerates its efforts to sow voter distrust in the democratic elections system, members of the board also continue to argue that they should be allowed to conduct their work in secret, away from the public oversight envisioned by Georgia’s open records and open meetings laws.

• The five-person board includes three election-denying members appointed in recent years by the state Republican Party: Janice Johnston, Janelle King, and Rick Jeffares. 
• The three far-right members have no experience in administering elections but upon appointment to the board quickly passed several new restrictive election rules, earning praise from former President Donald Trump during a rally in Atlanta in August.

We sued the board in July for violating the state’s Open Meetings Act when it illegally advanced two new restrictive election rules at an unlawfully convened meeting. 

• The board withdrew those rules after we filed suit, but then opted to reconsider them at its next properly noticed meeting. 
• In a 3-2 vote in August, the board passed a rule that gives members of the board more power to challenge the certification of votes. Last week, the board approved a rule requiring a sweeping hand-count of the state’s ballots on Election Day.
• Underscoring the partisanship of the board’s actions, the Georgia Republican Party successfully intervened in our lawsuit earlier this month and submitted a motion to dismiss the case. We’re fighting back, and this week, we filed a response asking the court to reject that motion.

This is only one of the latest efforts by the far-right members of the body to overtake administration and control of the state’s election processes and undermine confidence in democratic procedures.

• This week, Johnston and King expressed support for a plan that would allow the board to select members of an election advisory committee in Fulton County — ignoring the fact that the county has already approved its own election monitors.
• Georgia’s 2020 election has been reviewed extensively, and there has been no evidence of widespread voter fraud, let alone any evidence of fraud that would have impacted election results.

Where Has Governor DeSantis Been Going and How Much Did it Cost?

The public is going to get some answers to those questions — but other details will remain hidden. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement must release certain records pertaining to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ travel, a Florida court ruled last week in a lawsuit filed by the Washington Post.

• The Leon County Circuit Court ruled that the law used to shield DeSantis’ travel records is constitutional, but that the state’s law enforcement department had inappropriately applied it in order to avoid releasing certain records. 
• “Reimbursement checks and invoices for travel … are beyond the travel and security exemption in that they are purely financial with no security or law enforcement implication,” Circuit Judge Jonathan Sjostrom wrote in the ruling. 
• American Oversight’s deputy chief counsel Katherine Anthony told the Tallahassee Democrat that it appeared the court undertook a careful analysis of the documents, adding that “none of this would be an issue if Governor DeSantis was open and transparent with the public about his travel and use of taxpayer dollars.”
• “Going forward, the public will need to watch closely to ensure that Florida government agencies apply this exemption as narrowly as possible to meet the stated safety and security purpose, not to hide embarrassing details from scrutiny,” Anthony said.

American Oversight is also currently fighting for transparency from DeSantis in our own litigation after his office repeatedly failed to properly respond to public records requests, in violation of state law.

• That lawsuit covers 15 public records requests American Oversight had submitted to DeSantis’ office that didn’t receive a proper response.

On the Records

Project 2025 Organizers Offered to Recommend Contributors for Trump Administration Jobs

While former President Donald Trump has tried to distance himself from the Heritage Foundation’s controversial Project 2025, records we obtained shine a light on apparent proximity between those working on Project 2025 and a potential future Trump administration.

• In an email we obtained, a Heritage fellow told a prospective Project 2025 contributor that “real commitment” would be “recognized” by project leaders “whose recommendations are likely to carry influence with those who make personnel decisions” in a future administration.
• House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin cited the email in his opening remarks at a hearing last week which featured as witnesses several Project 2025 advisory board members and contributors. 
• In another email we obtained, Adam Candeub — a Michigan State University School of Law professor, Project 2025 contributor, and former Trump administration official — seemingly encouraged an individual to submit his name to Project 2025’s Presidential Personnel Database, writing that “if things go as planned…There will be need for you to be a political operative in an agency for a few years.”

Other Stories We’re Following

Election Denial and Threats to Democracy

• The RNC asked a conspiracy theorist to train poll watchers. Here’s what he told them. (New York Times)
• Anti-immigrant election deniers have turned their online following into an army of activists (Wired)
• After Portage County sheriff’s post, worried voters ask to meet with Ohio’s election chief (Statehouse News Bureau)

Voting Rights

• How Arizona tackles a language barrier to provide Navajo voters a ballot they can listen to (Votebeat)
• Florida law strikes ‘deathblow’ to outside groups trying to register new voters  (Bolts)
• County election officials must tell voters when mail-in ballots are rejected, Pa. court says (News from the States)
• Metro Atlanta counties have dismissed more than 45K voter eligibility challenges since July 1 (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
• Michigan poll challengers face new ground rules aimed at preventing delays, disruptions (Votebeat)
• A network of conservative activists wants to kick thousands of Ohioans off the voter rolls (Cleveland.com)
• North Carolina removes 747,000 from voter rolls, citing ineligibility (The Hill)

In the States

• Texas prisons and jails are recruiting more teenagers to shore up guard shortage (Texas Tribune)
• Despite persistent warnings, Texas rushed to remove millions from Medicaid. That move cost eligible residents care. (ProPublica)

National News

• EPA scientists said they were pressured to downplay harms from chemicals. A watchdog found they were retaliated against. (ProPublica)

LGBTQ Rights

• Voting, privacy, safety: How will the state’s new ID rules affect transgender Texans? (KERA)

Abortion and Reproductive Rights

• More than 200 pregnancy-related prosecutions in first year post-Roe (Guardian)
• Republicans threaten doctors who fail to provide emergency pregnancy care amid abortion bans (Rolling Stone)
• Report: Alabama led nation in criminalizing pregnant people after Dobbs (News from the States)
• Failed GOP attempt to keep abortion off Missouri ballot could foreshadow fight to come (Missouri Independent)
• A dramatic rise in pregnant women dying in Texas after abortion ban (NBC News)
• Little-known East Texas church paid legal bills for a prominent anti-abortion lawyer (Houston Chronicle)

Threats to Education

• ‘Emphasize abstinence’ in sex ed, Florida tells schools, skip lessons on contraception (Orlando Sentinel)
• US public schools banned over 10K books during 2023-2024 academic year, report says (USA Today)
• New state laws are fueling a surge in book bans (New York Times)
• The right doesn’t need to ban books anymore. Schools are doing it themselves. (Slate)

Civil Rights

• Justice Department details wide pattern of abuses by Mississippi police force (New York Times)
• Government Transparency and Public Records Law
• Judge in Washington Post lawsuit says Florida can’t hide cost of DeSantis’ travel (Tallahassee Democrat)
• How much are taxpayers spending to defend Ryan Walters and OSDE? Partial records give an idea (Oklahoman)
• Missouri judge rules social services department ‘knowingly’ violated Sunshine Law (Missouri Independent)

Immigration

• Activist with far-right ties fronts Marco Rubio-linked anti-immigration effort (Guardian)
• Livingston County Sheriff to record interactions with undocumented immigrants under resolution (Michigan Advance)
• Alabama attorney general joins lawsuit against protections for migrant farm workers (Alabama Reflector)

Trump Accountability

• Special counsel files critical brief in Trump’s DC case, but it remains under seal (CBS News)
• Appeals court questions Trump’s ‘troubling’ $450 million fine in civil fraud case (Forbes)
• Judge rejects Trump’s last-minute bid to delay assessment of Jan. 6 case (New York Times)
• Rudy Giuliani disbarred in DC after pushing Trump’s false 2020 election claims (Associated Press)

Jan. 6 Investigations

• Justice Department watchdog says report on agency’s handling of January 6 riot likely won’t be released until after election (CNN)