Georgia county validates thousands of voters challenged by Trump allies
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[September 22, 2022]
By Daniel Trotta
(Reuters) - A Georgia county has validated
15,000 to 20,000 registered voters whose status was challenged ahead of
the Nov. 8 midterm election, officials said on Wednesday, leaving
another 16,000 pending cases to resolve, according to the group leading
the challenge.
The voter challenge campaign in Gwinnett County, a suburb of Atlanta, is
led by VoterGA, which backs Donald Trump's false claims that widespread
fraud cost him the 2020 election. Supported by prominent allies of the
former president, VoterGA has contested 37,000 voter registrations in
the county of about 562,000 active voters.
Similar challenges are taking place in counties across Georgia, which
has tight races for governor and U.S. senator on the ballot, and the
queries have overwhelmed Gwinnett's elections board.
Voting rights advocates contend the campaign disproportionately targets
areas with a higher African-American population. VoterGA disputes that,
calling it a lie.
Gwinnett County Elections Supervisor Zach Manifold told the county's
election board on Wednesday that a review of the challenges found 15,000
to 20,000 were eliminated from further scrutiny because the process by
which those voters had their ballots delivered to them was legitimate.
Manifold said he had been informed just before the meeting that a
further 6,275 challenges had been withdrawn by VoterGA.
VoterGA co-founder Garland Favorito told Reuters those challenges were
withdrawn after a previous review by Gwinnett County determined they
were legitimate, leaving a total of around 16,000 pending cases.
"I would be surprised if any more entries were removed (from the voter
rolls) prior to the election," Favorito said.
The effort follows Trump's false claims that widespread fraud allowed
now-President Joe Biden to win the state and the country as a whole in
2020. Trump's claims have been rejected by multiple courts, state
reviews and members of his former administration.
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A polling station is pictured during the
primary election in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. May 24, 2022.
REUTERS/Dustin Chambers/File Photo
This year's voter role challenges are being filed under Georgia's
Election Integrity Act of 2021, or SB 202, which made it easier for
citizens to question the eligibility of registered voters.
VoterGA volunteers scoured public records to compile their claims,
seeking to verify whether voters had improperly registered, moved
away, had invalid addresses, or otherwise could not be accounted
for.
The group is backed by the American Project, which was founded by
former Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and former
Overstock.com Inc Chief Executive Patrick Byrne. The American
Project announced in August it would sponsor lawsuits related to
claims about the 2020 election in Georgia, including several
involving VoterGA and Favorito.
Favorito said he did not vote for Trump and has never met Flynn or
Byrne but welcomes their help.
Voting rights advocates including the American Civil Liberties Union
and All Voting is Local say that VoterGA is abusing the law, which
they say was intended to enable citizens with personal knowledge of
an irregularity to report it, such as when a neighbor moves away and
is still registered to vote locally.
The group is bringing "tens of thousands of what we would call
baseless challenges that take up the resources of offices that
really have better things to be doing at this time," said Vasu
Abhiraman, senior policy counsel for the ACLU of Georgia.
(Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Heather Timmons and Edmund
Klamann)
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