Georgia Sen. Warnock Under Investigation For Voter Registration Misconduct
By: Nicholas Reimann (Forbes)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Topline
The Georgia State Election Board voted unanimously Wednesday to move forward with an investigation of U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) for his role serving as board chairman of a voter registration organization founded by Stacey Abrams that election officials say failed to follow deadlines, in what appears to be the latest legal step in the ongoing feud between the progressive Abrams and the state's Republican election officials.
Key Facts
Warnock served as chairman of the board for the New Georgia Project in 2019, which is when election officials claim misconduct took place.
Under Georgia election rules, voting registration organizations like the New Georgia Project have to submit completed voter applications within ten days after they are received from the voter.
But officials allege that during a 2019 registration effort, some 1,268 applications were submitted to the Gwinnett County elections office after the ten-day deadline.
The Board voted 3-0 to refer the investigation to Georgia's Republican Attorney General Chris Carr, with the board's lone Democrat joining Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in abstaining from the vote.
Warnock did not respond to requests for comment from Forbes.
Warnock resigned his position with the New Georgia Project on January 28, 2020.
Chief Critic
"Today's State Election Board meeting was the first time we heard about the allegations regarding NGP's important voter registration work from 2019," New Georgia Project CEO Nse Ufot said in a statement. "We have not received any information on this matter from the Secretary or any other Georgia official."
Key Background
Abrams founded the organization in 2014 and has gone on to have several disputes with election officials. In 2018, she launched a well-publicized bid for Georgia governor but lost by about 55,000 votes to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who was then Georgia's secretary of state. Abrams blasted what she said were voter suppression efforts Kemp undertook as secretary of state to aid his gubernatorial campaign, such as purging voter rolls. In December, Raffensperger announced an investigation into the New Georgia Project and other voter registration groups, claiming they "sought to register ineligible, out-of-state or deceased voters."
Tangent
Warnock narrowly defeated incumbent Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) in a runoff last month, on the same ballot in which Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) ousted incumbent U.S. Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.). The double victory by Democrats in the Georgia Senate runoffs was enough to tip the scales in the U.S. Senate, with the makeup being a 50-50 split between Republicans and Democrats. Vice President Kamala Harris serves as the tie-breaking vote for Democrats if needed.
Surprising Fact
Election officials in Georgia have become well-known for their dismissal of former President Donald Trump's baseless claims of widespread voter fraud in the state. On Wednesday, prosecutors in Fulton County announced a criminal probe related to a phone call Trump made to Raffensperger where Trump said he needed Raffensperger to "find" votes.
What To Watch For
Because Warnock won a special election (Loeffler was appointed), he doesn't have a full term and is immediately up for reelection in 2022.
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In December, Raffensperger announced an investigation into the New Georgia Project and other voter registration groups, claiming they "sought to register ineligible, out-of-state or deceased voters."
Really?
Really? That's what you latch on to, the GoP mantra that only Democrats commit voter fraud? PA LT Governor Fetterman found 4 cases of Republicans voting a second time in answer to TX LT GOV Patrick's promise of $25 K per case of voter fraud.
What stood out to me?
At least 6 years and running...
... 300+ years without the political labels...
This should take a whole lot of peach pie festivals to go by before it is resolved. Do promise to get back to us with 'timely' updates.
Note that the organization, of which Warnock was listed either the CEO or the Chairman of the Board at the time,
hand delivered over 1,200 voter registration applications to the Board of Elections, which accepted them...
and now somewhere between 13 to 24 months later the same Board is threatening fines for Warnock and the organization.
I guess they are already making the commercials for when Warnock runs in 2022.