The State Election Board on Tuesday fined a Florida lawyer $3,500 after he attempted to register to vote in Georgia and encouraged other Republicans to follow his lead.
Bill Price, an attorney in Panama City, Florida, submitted an application to register at his brother’s house in Paulding County so he could vote in the U.S. Senate runoffs in early 2021.
Price posted a Facebook video on Nov. 7, 2020, instructing Bay County Republican Party members how they could do the same thing, which is illegal. Georgia law requires voters to be residents of the state.
“There should be a significant penalty for applicants who knowingly violate the law and register to vote with false information,” said State Election Board member Janice Johnston.
Price, who deleted the Facebook video days after it was posted in 2020, agreed to the fine in a consent order approved unanimously by the board. He did not return emails and a phone message seeking comment Tuesday.
Price said in the video that voters should “do whatever it takes” to help Republican incumbents Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue win the runoffs.
“If that means changing your address for the next two months, so be it,” Price said in the video, recorded by Channel 2 Action News before it was deleted. “I’m doing that. I’m moving to Georgia and I’m gonna fight and I want you all to fight with me.”
Election officials in Paulding County received a voter registration application for Price the day after he posted the video, but the application wasn’t processed amid media reports about his video, said Elizabeth Young of the Georgia attorney general’s office.
Ultimately, Democratic U.S. Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock won the runoffs.
The State Election Board has the power to levy fines up to $5,000 per violation of Georgia election laws.
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