State Election Board returns to 2020 election and seeks help from Trump’s DOJ
Three right-wing members of the State Election Board revived a fight over the 2020 presidential election Wednesday and called for President Donald Trump’s Justice Department to intervene.
The surprise move by the Republican board members — the same three praised by Trump as “pit bulls” during a campaign rally last fall — gives new life to skepticism of the president’s narrow loss in Georgia in 2020.
While many elected Republicans in Georgia have said they want to move on from 2020 after Trump’s undisputed win last year, the State Election Board remains focused on its questions about Fulton County’s handling of the 2020 recount.
Although multiple recounts, state investigations and court cases upheld the 2020 election, Trump’s supporters continue to make unproven allegations of fraud.
State Election Board Chairman John Fervier, an appointee of Gov. Brian Kemp, strongly objected to the board’s resolution, which was proposed by Janice Johnston, an appointee of the Georgia Republican Party.
The board voted 3-2 to seek documents from the 2020 election in Fulton County, including voter lists, chain-of-custody forms, ballot images, documentation of security seals and ballot scanner paperwork. Fervier and Democratic Party appointee Sara Tindall Ghazal opposed the resolution.
Fervier said the investigation of Fulton was already completed when the board reprimanded the county in May 2024 for double-scanning more than 3,000 ballots during a recount of the 2020 election.
But Johnston said the case isn’t over and Fulton hasn’t responded to the board’s Election Day 2024 subpoena seeking the 2020 documents. A judge has scheduled a hearing in September on the county’s motion to quash the subpoena.
“This case is not closed. It is not dismissed,” Johnston said. “To date, from the subpoena from Nov. 5, 2024, not a single document has been presented to this board.”
The resolution calls for the secretary of state and attorney general to seek assistance from authorities, including the Department of Justice, to obtain documents.
All Voting Is Local, a voting rights group, said the board is attempting to “endlessly relitigate the 2020 general election.”
“This is a blatant abuse of power to use the threat of federal investigation and prosecution to intimidate local election officials who have dared to challenge this board’s egregious overreach based on disinformation and outright lies,” All Voting Is Local Georgia State Director Kristin Nabers said.
While state investigations verified ballot scanning errors by Fulton election workers in the 2020 election, they never found intentional fraud.
The board’s vote came weeks after the Georgia Supreme Court shot down its attempt to require new hand count and election certification rules before last year’s election.
Just before approving the resolution Wednesday to seek documents from 2020, the board’s three-vote majority also voted to strip power from Fervier.
They gave their newly hired executive director, James Mills, authority over personnel, job postings and meeting dates. The divided board voted last week to hire Hope Coan, the wife of the board’s former executive director, Mike Coan, who often opposed Fervier. Coan was hired as Mills’ executive assistant.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Sara Tindall Ghazal.
About the Author
Mark Niesse is an enterprise reporter and covers elections and Georgia government for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and is considered an expert on elections and voting. Before joining the AJC, he worked for The Associated Press in Atlanta, Honolulu and Montgomery, Alabama. He also reported for The Daily Report and The Santiago Times in Chile.
