Flowery Branch, GA, September 30, 2024 – Georgia First, a cross-partisan, nonprofit organization whose mission includes ensuring election access and security, today joined The Lincoln Project in filing an amicus brief supporting the lawsuit by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) against the Georgia State Election Board (SEB). The SEB adopted unnecessary and unlawful, new rules just months before the election – actions that the Georgia Attorney General’s Office advised exceed the authority of the SEB’s unelected board members and violate the state’s Constitution.
“The Board’s recent unlawful, conspiracy-fueled actions threaten to create chaos for local election boards,” said Natalie Crawford, Executive Director of Georgia First and a former two-term, Republican Habersham County Commissioner with responsibilities in the funding and oversight of county election operations. “These rules are an attempt to legislate by rule and cannot be allowed to go unchallenged; that’s why Georgia First decided to file amici curiae briefs in the DNC lawsuit and the Republican-led lawsuit, filed by Eternal Vigilance Action.”
“There is no doubt this was a partisan effort driven by baseless conspiracy theories so Trump minions could screw with the election count,” said Mario Nicolais, Lincoln Project General Counsel. “These changes destroy trust in the system and will create chaos on election night. They undermine the foundations of our democracy and could lead to very real and very dangerous outcomes if the public believes the votes were not tabulated properly and the true winner not chosen.”
Both lawsuits, filed in Fulton County Superior Court, target the recent SEB rulemaking undertaken so closely to an election. The lawsuits focus on rule changes to the certification of election results and how this rule along with the many others adopted within just weeks of the election will sow chaos for Georgia’s local election officials.
The openly hyper-partisan behavior by board members Janice Johnston, Rick Jeffares, and Janelle King reflects poorly on the integrity of Georgia’s highly regarded electoral processes and undermines trust in our democratic institutions.
“Good governance is not a partisan issue, and when elections are politicized, everyone loses. America loses,” said Crawford. “The State Election Board should always act without regard to party, in service to all candidates and all voters in our state, and in accordance with the law.”
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