Emails obtained by the Guardian reveal a behind-the-scenes network of county elections officials across Georgia coordinating policy and messaging to cast doubt on the results of November’s election before a single vote had been cast, and to promote rules and procedures supported by the election rejection movement.
The emails were obtained by the watchdog group Citizens for Accountability and Ethics in Washington (CREW) through a public records request to election denier and Gwinnett County Board of Elections Commissioner David Hancock, who shared them with The Guardian.
The communications, which span a period beginning in January, expose the inner workings of a group that includes some of the most ardent supporters of former President Donald Trump’s election lies and their ongoing efforts to make the upcoming election appear riddled with fraud. The communications also include meeting agendas and efforts to coordinate policy and messaging as battleground states once again become a focal point of the presidential race.
The correspondence includes letters from a who’s who of Georgia election deniers, including officials with ties to prominent national groups such as the Tea Party Patriots and the Election Integrity Network, run by Cleta Mitchell, a former lawyer who served as an informal adviser to Trump’s White House in its efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
The group, which includes election officials from at least five counties, calls itself the Georgia Coalition for Election Integrity.
The oldest of the released emails relates to an article published by the Georgia United Tea Party on January 30. The article, headlined “Georgia Democrats Threatening Georgia State Election Commission,” was posted by an anonymous “administrator” of the website and was sent in response to letters sent to county election boards across Georgia that had recently refused to certify the election results.
“In what appears to be an attempt to intimidate election officials, the Georgia Democratic Party sent letters to members of each county elections board threatening legal action if they do not vote to certify future elections, even if the board members have legitimate concerns about the election results,” the article begins.
The letter was sent by lawyers representing the Georgia Democratic Party to election board members in Spaulding, Cobb and DeKalb counties, whose members had refused to certify the results of local elections the previous November. In the letter, the Democrats warned the officials that their duty to certify results is not discretionary, and sought to prevent further refusals to certify, including the upcoming presidential election. In response, the Georgia United Tea Party called the letter “troubling” and said it was “Orwellian to require election boards to certify elections even when there are unanswered questions about the ballots.”
The Georgia United Tea Party website does not name the author of the article, but emails obtained by Crews identify it as Hancock, an election denier and Gwinnett County Board of Elections member who has been a leading voice in the movement to expand the party’s power to refuse to certify election results.
“Okay, I finished writing the article and posted it,” Hancock wrote in an email the day the article was published.
The recipients of the email were several county election officials who believe Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen and continue to implement policies and promote rules based on the belief that widespread election fraud could lead to Trump’s defeat in Georgia in November. Among them were Republican Michael Heekin of the Fulton County Board of Elections, who refused to certify the results this year; his colleague Julie Adams, who has refused to certify the results twice this year and is active in the national election denial groups Tea Party Patriots and Election Integrity Network; and Debbie Fisher of Cobb County, Nancy Jester of DeKalb County, and Roy McClain of Spalding County, who refused to certify the results last November and received letters questioned by Hancock.
By February 4, Hancock seemed to have received little response to his article, so he shared it with the group again.
“I’m not going to comment on the Georgia Democrat article at all. I think it just wasn’t picked up by anyone important,” he wrote in an email to the group at 10:53 p.m. Sunday night, then attached a link to the article five minutes later. “I think this message needs to be spread, so please share it however you feel like it.”
Democrats and election experts have cited case law dating back to 1899 in Georgia that holds that certification is a “clerical duty” rather than the discretion of county election officials. At a meeting of state-level election officials from several battleground states on Monday, Gabe Sterling, an aide to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, warned county election officials that they could face court action if they refuse to certify the results in November.
Correspondence also shows that members of the group coordinated messaging about false claims of widespread voter fraud. Ahead of the group’s December meeting, Adams used a TeaPartyPatriots.org email address to send out an agenda that included an item about “New York Times reporters visiting several Georgia counties.” Another agenda said the right-wing publication The Federalist was seeking “freelance writers (experience not required).”
The group heard from speakers at the meeting, including State Election Commissioner and election denier Dr. Janice Johnston. Dr. Johnston smiled and waved to the crowd at a Trump rally in Atlanta on August 3, where Trump praised Dr. Johnston and two other Republican members of the commission as “pit bulls fighting to win.” One of the agenda items noted that election denier activist Frank Schneider, who has challenged the voting eligibility of more than 31,000 Georgia voters, would speak at the meeting. Other speakers at the group’s meetings include Garland Favorito, perhaps the state’s most prominent election denier activist, who constantly pressures the State Election Commission to open investigations into alleged election fraud and to implement policies and regulations that he and other lawmakers frequently introduce. (Another email obtained by the Guardian shows Mr Favorito planning a lunch in July with John Favorito, chairman of the state elections board and a moderate Republican, Mr Favirier, who voted against recent election denial-based rules passed by his GOP colleagues.)
Another speaker at the meeting was Sally Grubbs, chair of the Cobb County Republican Party, who successfully petitioned the State Board of Elections to adopt rules expanding the power of county election officials to refuse to certify election results. Election denier Amanda Prettyman, who spoke about election conspiracies at the 2022 Macon-Bibb County Board of Elections meeting, also spoke at the group’s meeting. Also speaking at the group’s meeting were election denier Lisa Neisler, whose X-profile features a photo of a Trump supporter at the Jan. 6 rally before the Capitol attack, and Republican Victoria Cruz, who ran unsuccessfully for a county commission seat in May.
The emails confirm previously released emails showing Hancock coordinating with Johnston to discuss two rules passed by the State Board of Elections that give county election officials the power to refuse to certify election results and the ongoing voter purge that Democrats say violates the National Voter Registration Act. The emails also show Hancock’s initial response to a letter from the Georgia Democratic Party warning that county election officials like Hancock have a legal obligation to certify the results.
“If you have a moment, I would appreciate your comment on this incredible letter sent by the Georgia Democratic Party’s lawyer regarding the election certification vote,” Hancock wrote to Favorito on Jan. 4. “Are they trying to prepare for the 2024 elections? I do not understand this situation. If the Board of Elections has no choice but to certify the election, why are they asking for an election certification vote?”