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Democratic Operatives Move To Purge Trump Supporters From Georgia Election Board

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by blueapples
Friday, Sep 06, 2024 - 17:06

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Perhaps no state better represents the reverberations from the 2020 Presidential Election on America's electoral process than Georgia. Following Joe Biden's conquest of the pivotal swing state in 2020, it became a central focus of claims of election fraud on behalf of President Donald Trump. While the political climate following the allegedly rigged election has regressed to a mean that's become more favorable for Trump, the vestiges of the turmoil from the last presidential election that have remained unresolved in Georgia threaten to lay the groundwork for another contentious election certification process. That threat only continues to grow with the 2024 Presidential Election less than 2 months away, as mounting pressure from democratic operatives in Georgia threatens to purge supporters of Trump from the State Election Board in a political maneuver reminiscent of those which cost Trump the 2020 election.

Georgia State Election Board members convene during a public hearing.

Although Georgia's State Election Board doe not determine the results of elections, the authority vested in it allows the board to write rules governing the administration of elections in the state and field complains about potential violations of them. Since the passage of the Georgia Senate Bill 202 -- the Election Integrity Act Of 2021 -- the State Election Board has become empowered with authority to regulate county election boards and even replace them in the administration of elections in the event the local electoral bodies have been deemed to not be compliant with state election laws.

The decision to provide the State Election Board with this increased power came in response to widespread claims that county-level election boards' negligent or contrived actions undermined the integrity of election results across the state. Since its inception, the Election Integrity Act Of 2021 has been met with vitriol and fervent opposition from the democratic establishment in Georgia and across the country. The tactics taken to undermine the board have become only become amplified in the build up to the 2024 election, especially considering the futility Georgia's criminal case against Trump under guidance of embattled District Attorney Fani Willis.

Given how consequential its actions affecting the electoral process in the Georgia are, careful measures have been implemented to maintain the integrity of the State Election Board itself. Of the 5 members the board is comprised of, one is appointed by the state's House Of Representatives, another by its Senate, along with one from each of the republican and democratic parties, and lastly; a nonpartisan chair selected by either the Georgia General Assembly or governor. However, when conservative media personality Janelle King was appointed by the Georgia House Of Representatives, that gave republicans a majority on the board which prompted democrats throughout the country to target it with their tired rhetoric about how democracy had fallen under attack once again.

With the democratic establishment's efforts failing to go according to plan, the State Election Board has come into its crosshairs once again as democratic lawmakers and other political operatives have begun to increase pressure on Georgia Governor Brian Kemp to purge the board of its 3 members constituting the majority who are in support of President Donald Trump. Democrats led by State Sen. Nabilah Islam Parkes and Fulton County Elections Chair Kathy Woolard formally filed an ethics complaint against State Election Board members Janelle King, Rick Jeffares, and Dr. Janice Johnston. In their complaint, the democratic axis alleged that the board has implemented new rules that are aimed at creating a favorable outcome for Trump in November's election.

These rules include enabling local country election officials to delay the certification of election results in consideration of potential fraud. County boards are required to make a "reasonable inquiry" into potential fraud before providing the state with any certification of votes. Critics of the rule argue the process and standards of such an inquiry are amorphous, leaving room for malfeasance. Country election boards are also required to hold a formal meeting to verify vote counts following the election on a date preceding the existing deadline for ballots from voters overseas including members of the military on deployment. The passage of these rules less than 100 days before the November 5th election was met with the reactionary opposition from democratic actors in the state which prompted them to file the ethics complaint against the board. The democratic operatives behind the complaint have urged Governor Kemp to investigate and remove the 3 republican members of the board as well as to install an administrative judge to oversee its hearings.

Before that ethics complaint was made, a lawsuit filed by liberal watchdog group American Oversight sought to challenge some of the new rules implemented by the State Election Board. The suit alleged that a July 12th meeting was invalidated due to only 2 of the boards' 5 members being physically present. Only King and Jeffares were physically present for the meeting as Dr. Janice Johnston joined remotely. Neither lone democratic member Sara Tindall Ghazal nor nonpartisan board chair John Fervier attended the meeting in any capacity. However, the board contended that the meeting on the 12th was merely a continuation of its previous one held on the 9th. Nevertheless, the board voted unanimously to debate the rules passed at the July 12th hearing again on August 6th in response to the lawsuit.

However, the lawsuit did not affect rules that were passed during the board's previous meeting on July 9th that then became formally adopted on August 19th. Those newly adopted rules included the requirement for county election boards to review lists of voters who cast ballots in an election categorized by voting method so that ballots can be to examined for duplicates. Since that rule falls outside of the scope of the American Oversight lawsuit, the Democratic Party itself filed a separate lawsuit challenging them. The lawsuit filed in Fulton County Superior Court alleges that rules adopted on August 19th “introduce substantial uncertainty in the post-election process and – if interpreted as their drafters have suggested – invite chaos by establishing new processes at odds with existing statutory duties”. Vice President Kamala Harris' presidential campaign has officially endorsed the DNC-led lawsuit.

While the democratic establishment turns to lawfare once again, it does so in a manner that seeks to reinvigorate a tactic that failed to stop the political momentum of the Trump campaign as it has intended to. The suit is a component of a multi-faceted strategy that includes the ethics complaint which aims to reshape the board entirely in any image that benefits its own cause.

In the wake of the ethics complaint being filed Governor Kemp's office issued a response regarding its reticence to take the action urged by its authors. A statement issued by the governor's press office addressed the ultimate aims of the democratic actors behind the complaint, stating “Due to uncertainty regarding whether this office has authority to act under Code Section 45-10-4 in response to these complaints, we have sought the Attorney General’s advice regarding the application of the statute to the letters. We will respond following receipt of this advice and further evaluation of the letters.” While the statement demonstrates the uncertainty behind the legal authority of the governor to investigate and oversee the hearings of the State Electon Board, what is certain is that Kemp is weighing that legality against the mounting political pressure aimed at him.

Governor Kemp formally requesting an advisory opinion on what authority he has to remove the members embroiled by the ethics complaint from the State Election Board comes at a time where President Donald Trump has thrust whose members into the limelight by defending their commitment to upholding the integrity of elections. Trump went on to take aim at Kemp for not supporting the board during an August 3rd rally held in Atlanta. During the rally, Trump ad-libbed that Kemp was a "very average governor" in addition to calling his character into question by being disloyal. However, as he often does, Trump changed his tune on Kemp weeks later in a social media post that praised Kemp, stating "I look forward to working with you, your team, and all of my friends in Georgia to help MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"

Although Kemp has largely remained stoic in response to Trump's reemergence as the republican candidate for president following the aftermath of the 2020 election, he broke from that decorum by dismissing the former president's criticism of the governor in early August. Kemp dismissed any lingering acrimony between he and Trump following the remarks made at the August 3rd rally in Atlanta, stating "To me, that was a small distraction that’s in the past," before going on to highlight the integral role that Georgia plays in determining the outcome of the 2024 Presidential Election.

Speaking about that outcome, Kemp lambasted the Harris - Walz ticket as being worse than the Biden administration. "It’s my belief that we cannot afford four more years of [President] Joe Biden and Kamala Harris or Kamala Harris and [Minnesota Gov.] Tim Walz, which I think would probably be worse than even Biden and Harris were," he said. Those remarks serve as an auspice that the democratic establishment's attempts to undermine the Georgia State Election Board may ultimately be in vain.

Contributor posts published on Zero Hedge do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of Zero Hedge, and are not selected, edited or screened by Zero Hedge editors.
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