Trump's election probes find an opening in Georgia
On the eve of midterms, President Trump is facing setbacks left and right in his push to investigate alleged election fraud . But in Georgia, he has an opening. Why it matters: Six years ago, Georgia was at the epicenter of Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Now the state's own election board has invited his administration to investigate its voting system. Georgia…
As Election Day approaches, President Trump faces obstacles in his attempts to probe claims of election fraud. However, Georgia presents an opportunity. Signs of this include Georgia's election board extending an invitation for his administration to examine the state's voting system. Georgia is a state with two critical statewide races: one for the Senate between Sen. Jon Ossoff (D) and Rep. Mike Collins (R), and another for governor between former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms (D) and businessman Rick Jackson (R).
Recently, the Justice Department submitted letters to state officials in California, Washington, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Nevada, requesting that certain states separate mail-in ballots from those of suspected noncitizen voters. A federal judge blocked federal officials from threatening charges against election officials who count ballots from voters the DOJ deems ineligible.
However, Georgia presents a different scenario. State election officials have been managing their way through the final phase, but they acknowledge it is not an optimal approach to conducting elections. A Georgia election official shared this sentiment with Axios. Georgia's State Election Board sought the Justice and Homeland Security departments to evaluate and possibly investigate the state's voting system and management of election data.
The letter cited outdated software, threats to ballot secrecy, and QR-code ballots that may violate the Help America Vote Act. The DOJ spokesperson stated that the department takes allegations of election officials failing to maintain equipment and comply with federal law seriously. They are evaluating the request and may bring enforcement actions in line with federal law.
Georgia's State Election Board Chair John Fevrier, appointed by Gov. Brian Kemp (R), disagreed with the letter and informed Axios that the majority of the board now believes it exceeded the resolution's scope. Georgia's secretary of state's office stated that the state's voting machines have not been updated since they were purchased in 2019.
The state is initiating a procurement process for new machines ahead of the next election cycle. Georgia's legislature passed a law in 2024 to transition away from QR-code ballots to hand-marked paper ballots, a process that was expected to commence by July 2024 but has now been delayed. A software malfunction in the state's tabulators, which could affect ballot secrecy, was known to the state since 2022 but has yet to be addressed.
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