Are out-of-state voters registering in Georgia? Election officials are investigating
State election officials are investigating at least four groups for allegedly attempting to register out-of-state residents as Georgia voters ahead of two U.S. Senate runoffs in January.
The investigations come as county election workers recount Georgia’s ballots at the request of President Donald Trump before the Wednesday deadline. Trump continues to fight his electoral defeat with false claims of widespread voter fraud, lashing out at one-time ally Gov. Brian Kemp.
Investigations into alleged voting irregularities tied to the Nov. 3 election continue, but the secretary of state’s office has previously said there is no evidence of widespread foul play or tampering that would have affected the outcome.
State election officials said the recount is on schedule, and workers are preparing for the January runoffs that will determine which party controls the U.S. Senate.
“I assume (the groups) are all going to say it is perfectly legitimate. It was an accident,” said Gabriel Sterling, the state’s voting system implementation manager. “But that’s why you’ve got to investigate.”
Investigations into alleged fraud
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger told reporters during a Monday news conference that his office launched investigations tied to third-party groups that attempted to register out-of-state voters.
Raffensperger identified four groups:
- America Votes: The organization allegedly sent absentee ballot applications to people at addresses they haven’t lived at since 1994.
- Vote Forward: The group allegedly attempted to register a dead Alabama woman to vote in Georgia.
- The New Georgia Project: The organization allegedly sent voter registration applications to New York City. The group was founded by former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.
- Operation New Voter Registration Georgia: The group allegedly told out-of-state college students that they could change their residency and register to vote only in the Jan. 5 election before changing it back.
“Voting in Georgia when you are not a resident of Georgia is a felony,” Raffensperger said. “These third party groups have a responsibility to not encourage illegal voting. If they do so, they will be held responsible.”
The secretary of state’s office has more than 250 active investigations tied to voting irregularities and violations of state laws from the general election. Some of the open investigations are tied to absentee votes in Fulton and Cobb counties as well as a claim that absentee ballots outnumber envelopes in Gwinnett County.
Sterling said there’s nothing that “jumped off the page” to indicate the outcome of the race would change.
Raffensperger said his office will continue to investigate claims of illegal voting, including double voting or dead voters casting ballots.
Absentee ballots for Jan. 5 election
As of Monday afternoon, nearly 948,000 absentee ballots have been requested for the Jan. 5 election. More than 604,000 were from the state’s rollover list, meaning a voter applied once and will receive a ballot for every election that year. The process is limited to voters 65 and older, disabled voters or military and overseas voters.
More than 343,000 voters filed a new absentee ballot request, and more than 319,000 of those requests came through the secretary of state’s online portal. Voters who request a ballot online must provide their driver’s license or state ID number to confirm their identification.
As of Monday morning, roughly 1,040 absentee ballots for that election have been accepted, and election officials expect more will come in soon. All parts of the absentee ballot process are available for public viewing, Sterling said.
In addition to the recount and Jan. 5 voting preparations, a handful of elections will take place in a few counties Tuesday.
Georgia’s presidential recount and Trump on Kemp
County election workers are on schedule to meet the Wednesday recount deadline while Trump continues to attack Kemp over the state’s election results.
Counties have until 11:59 p.m. on Dec. 2 to count their presidential ballots — the third time these votes have been tallied. The Trump campaign requested the recount under Georgia law after President-elect Joe Biden won the state by 12,670 votes.
As of Monday afternoon, 43 of Georgia’s 159 counties have completed their recounts. Vote totals show no or only slight differences from previous counts, but many of the state’s larger counties have not finished, Sterling said.
The recount request is just one of several attempts by the Trump campaign, or his supporters, to avoid defeat in Georgia. Several lawsuits had been filed or are being appealed, and Trump continues to question the integrity of Georgia’s elections through false or baseless claims on Twitter.
Georgia election officials continue to debunk misinformation regarding the state’s election and its results.
“The ridiculous things claimed in some of these lawsuits are just that — they’re insanity. It’s fever dream, made-up, internet cabal,” Sterling said.
In a tweet posted Monday morning, Trump referred to Kemp as the “hapless Governor of Georgia” and suggested that Kemp use his emergency powers to “do a match of signatures on envelopes.”
“It will be a ‘goldmine’ of fraud, and we will easily WIN the state,” a portion of Trump’s tweet reads.
The signature or identification of Georgia voters is checked twice during the absentee ballot process, per state election law. One check occurs when a ballot is requested, and the other check occurs after the ballot is cast. Once a signature is matched, the envelope is separated from the final ballot to protect voter secrecy, as outlined in Georgia law.
In response to Trump’s tweet, a Kemp spokesperson told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the governor could not interfere in the state’s election.
“The Secretary of State, who is an elected constitutional officer, has oversight over elections that cannot be overridden by executive order,” spokesperson Cody Hall said in a statement.
“As the governor has said repeatedly, he will continue to follow the law and encourage the Secretary of State to take reasonable steps — including a sample audit of signatures — to restore trust and address serious issues that have been raised,” Hall added.
This story was originally published November 30, 2020 at 1:51 PM with the headline "Are out-of-state voters registering in Georgia? Election officials are investigating."