Dem
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GOP
51
Some Georgia election officials are already working on counting the votes. Or, more accurately, not counting the votes. The Guardian has obtained e-mails and other communications from a shadowy group of Georgia election officials who are planning to portray the November election as beset by fraud if Kamala Harris carries their state. They are coordinating strategies, policies, and messaging to make sure Donald Trump wins Georgia—for example, by refusing to certify the count in counties Harris wins. The earliest messages go back to January of this year, and are well developed by now.
The group has ties to multiple groups of election deniers, including the Tea Party Patriots and the Election Integrity Network, which is run by Cleta Mitchell, a former lawyer who advised Trump during the period he was trying to get the state legislatures in states Biden won to send new slates of electors to Congress.
One thread was a letter sent by the Georgia Democratic Party to county officials reminding them that they had no discretionary authority to challenge election results. They are required by law to certify the count of the actual votes cast. It is up to the courts to determine if there were irregularities. The United Tea Party of Georgia called this "troubling" and "intimidating." The e-mails showed that the author of these remarks was David Hancock, an election denier and member of the Gwinnett County Board of Elections.
Another election denier who is in a position to refuse to certify county elections is Michael Heekin, a Republican member of the Fulton County Board of Elections. Several other members of election boards are also active in Tea Party Patriots and the Election Integrity Network.
Election experts have cited Georgia court cases as far back as 1899 ruling that certification is "ministerial," meaning that boards are required to simply report the total votes cast for each candidate, even if they suspect fraud. It is simply not their job to investigate. It is up to the courts to handle that. However, a recent state law gives county boards more leeway in deciding whether to certify the vote or not. (V)