Watchdog Demands Answers From Georgia State Election Board About Gmail Account Not Disclosed in 2025 Litigation
Undisclosed Email Appeared on Screen at Public Board Meeting Nearly a Year After Settlement Over Members’ Use of Gmail
Thursday, American Oversight sent a demand letter to counsel for the Georgia State Election Board (SEB) calling on the board to explain its apparent use of an unofficial SEB email account, gaseb2023@gmail.com, that was inadvertently displayed at the board’s September 28 public meeting. The watchdog seeks to understand how the email address is being used in light of a 2025 settlement agreement requiring the board to conduct official business through official government email accounts.
The 2025 settlement resolved American Oversight’s year-long lawsuit alleging that then-member and known election denier Janice Johnston delayed public records responses by blocking the board’s open records officer from searching her SEB Gmail account, which members previously used for official business. Subsequent guidance issued by the board pursuant to the settlement agreement required members to conduct all board business through official @seb.ga.gov email accounts so the open records officer could search for responsive public records without interference.
During discovery in the lawsuit, American Oversight asked the SEB to identify all email accounts from which the board and individuals working in its office had sent or received records responsive to the watchdog’s requests. The SEB identified six addresses, five of them Gmail accounts, all apparently associated with specific individuals’ names. The board did not identify gaseb2023@gmail.com and, as the letter notes, has not produced any emails from the account in discovery or in response to American Oversight’s open records requests.
The watchdog’s letter raises concerns about the board’s compliance with the settlement, its disclosures during litigation, and its preservation and disclosure of records as required by the Georgia Open Records Act. It asks whether the account is or ever was used for board business, whether it contains records responsive to American Oversight’s requests, and whether those records have been preserved and disclosed. American Oversight asked the SEB to respond by October 22.
“We took the State Election Board to court and secured a commitment that its members would use official government email accounts for board business. Nearly a year later, an undisclosed, unofficial account appears on screen at a public meeting. Georgians deserve to know who is using it, what it’s being used for, and why it was never disclosed,” said Chioma Chukwu, Executive Director of American Oversight. “As the board continues to invite federal intervention in Georgia’s elections, the need for transparency now is more urgent than ever. If this account is being used for board business, the public has a right to those records. We expect prompt answers and full disclosure.”
These concerns come as the board and its members have increasingly invited Trump administration intervention in Georgia’s elections. An unsealed Federal Bureau of Investigations affidavit revealed that SEB members provided sworn statements to support the federal seizure of Fulton County’s 2020 ballots and other election materials. More recently, the board passed a resolution urging federal assistance concerning Georgia’s voting system. The SEB’s executive director then sent a letter requesting federal officials to force major changes before November’s election — demands that two board members say exceeded what they approved.