Georgia is facing a democracy catastrophe and an ethics disaster at the State Election Board. In the years since Georgia refused to bend to then-President Donald Trump’s demand to “find 11,780 votes,” anti-democratic forces have taken over the board. These MAGA “pit bulls,” as Trump himself termed them in a recent speech, have taken extreme actions that suggest partisan bias driven by their allegiance to the former president. They have demonstrated that with a series of dubious decisions in circumstances that force every Georgian to doubt whether they can ethically serve their critical role in protecting the democratic process. As former White House ethics attorneys serving a Republican and a Democratic president respectively, we urge Gov. Brian Kemp to remove them from the board immediately.
Despite holding unelected offices in which they should demonstrate a modicum of nonpartisanship, these Election Board members — Rick Jeffares, Janelle King and Janice Johnston — have flagrantly exhibited their support for Trump. Each has made public statements in support of the former president: Johnston attended his recent Atlanta rally and happily received a standing ovation when Trump thanked her publicly. King, referring to the applause at the rally, said she was grateful for Trump’s “encouragement and support.” And in the most egregious case, Jeffares reportedly lobbied Trump’s former White House political director for a job in the administration. You don’t need to be an ethics expert to understand why this is a problem.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Their partisan activities are only part of the problem. This Trump-tied Election Board has already passed a series of controversial changes to the state’s election rules, gaining public praise from Trump and his ally Cleta Mitchell, who publicly thanked them for “fighting hard for us!!!” For example, against the advice of the attorney general, the board followed a partisan private attorney’s advice to unlawfully reopen an investigation into the 2020 election in Fulton County to pursue long-debunked conspiracy theories. In another particularly egregious instance, the board passed a rule that allows local election officials to refuse to comply with state law requiring them to certify election results if they instead decide to conduct a “reasonable inquiry” into the accuracy of the vote count — before voting to certify election results. As a result, county elections officials might try to delay certification until they investigate every conceivable allegation of “fraud” circulating on social media, the local rumor mill or anywhere else.
These and other board actions have already triggered litigation and, if left unchecked, are likely to generate significant confusion and chaos heading into and after the election. Can there be any doubt that is what Trump and his cronies are counting on to delay certification of Georgia’s electoral votes (if he loses) and create the same turbulence they did four years ago leading up to the insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021.
Taken together, the board members’ legally unjustifiable actions, taken through unlawful and irregular procedures and in blatantly partisan surrounding circumstances, make it impossible to trust them as stewards of Georgia’s democracy, particularly as we head toward one of the most contentious elections in our nation’s history.
Thankfully, there is still time to right the ship. Over the past few weeks, multiple Georgia officials, including former Fulton County Election Board Chair Cathy Woolard and dozens of members of the Georgia House of Representatives and Georgia Senate, filed official complaints against the Election Board members. The board members, the complaints and letters allege, violated state law and abdicated their ethical responsibilities to pass rules designed to help Trump carry the state or delay certification of the vote if he doesn’t.
These ethics complaints are serious matters under Georgia law. They trigger a series of statutory procedures to determine whether these Election Board members violated their legal duties under Georgia law, including the duty to uphold the laws and regulations of the state of Georgia and to refrain from conduct amounting to a “breach of public trust.”
The statutory regime is surprisingly simple: Georgia law, O.C.G.A. § 45-10-4, does not give the governor discretion in these scenarios. The governor’s obligation to order a hearing in these circumstances is mandatory. And, if the hearing demonstrates the Election Board members violated their duties, Kemp is required to remove them.
But rather than initiate the process that is clearly required under 45-10-4, Kemp on Monday requested guidance from the state attorney general to clarify whether his office “has authority to act” on the charges. Given the clarity in the statute, this appears to be an attempt to delay the process and avoid making decisions that will infuriate Trump and his followers.
The governor needs to abandon these tactics. This matter must be addressed and resolved before the general election, and ideally with enough time for a board functioning according to the law to undo some of the anti-democratic measures this conflicted board has put in place. Most important, these board members must not be allowed to abuse their positions to undermine the election after voting has occurred.
You do not need to be an expert in ethics and election law to understand the nature of this threat. Left unchecked, these partisan actors are in position to jeopardize a free and fair election in Georgia. If Kemp allows that to happen, it will undo everything he managed to protect in 2020. Protecting our country from sliding into autocracy is not an enviable responsibility, but it is a burden he accepted when he chose to seek office. He must not shrink from that now.
Richard Painter was the White House ethics counsel in the George W. Bush administration. Norman Eisen was the White House ethics counsel in the Barack Obama administration.
