Judicial Watch Sues Georgia Secretary of State for Records about Changes to Processing of Absentee Ballots in 2020 Election, and 2021 Trump/Raffensperger Call

(Washington, DC) Judicial Watch announced today that it has filed two Georgia Open Records Act lawsuits against Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger for records related to: (1) the March 6, 2020 consent agreement regarding the processing of absentee ballots in the November 3, 2020 general election (Judicial Watch v. Brad Raffensperger (No. 2021 cv 347236)); and (2) the January 2, 2021 telephone call between Raffensperger and President Trump (Judicial Watch v. Brad Raffensperger (No. 2021 cv 347237));

The first lawsuit was filed after Secretary of State Raffensperger failed to respond to a November 17, 2020 request for:

All records related to the March 6, 2020 Consent Agreement entered into by Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and others relating to the processing of absentee ballots by the Secretary of State in the November 3, 2020 general election, including but not limited to emails regarding the agreement sent to and from Raffensperger, State Election Board Vice Chair Rebecca N. Sullivan, State Election Board Member David J. Worley, State Election Board Member Matthew Mashburn, and/or State Election Board Member Anh Le.

Judicial Watch second lawsuit is for:

All emails sent to and from Secretary of State Raffensperger, Deputy Secretary of State Jordan Fuchs and General Counsel Brian Germany regarding the January 2, 2021 telephone call between President Trump, Secretary Raffensperger and others concerning alleged election fraud in Georgia.

On March 6, 2020, Secretary of State Raffensperger and other Georgia officials signed a consent decree with the Democratic Party of Georgia, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee that critics contend improperly weakened anti-fraud measures related absentee ballots.

In an hour-long telephone call on January 2, 2021, President Trump and Raffensperger discussed Trump’s concerns about voter fraud in Georgia. The conversation became controversial after Raffensperger’s office allegedly leaked a recording of the call to the Washington Post.

“We want to know more about what happened behind the scenes in Georgia during the 2020 election,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “Hiding key records about the controversial settlement agreement and the President’s leaked phone call with Raffensperger prevents Americans from knowing the full story and deciding for themselves whether the outcome in Georgia was fair.”

Relatedly, in April 2020, Judicial Watch identified thousands of persons who may have registered to vote in Georgia at non-residential addresses. Judicial Watch shared its data with Raffensperger’s office at the time and requested an investigation. On January 5 of this year, Judicial Watch announced that, of this list of voters who may have registered using non-residential addresses, 4,700 voted absentee in the 2020 presidential election. Georgia law requires that citizens registering to vote must reside “in that place in which such person’s habitation is fixed….”  

In 2020, Judicial Watch sued North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Colorado for failing to clean up their voter rolls and also sued Illinois for refusing to disclose voter roll data in violation of federal law. These lawsuits are ongoing. Judicial Watch also has filed dozens of public records requests in multiple States about the 2020 election.

John J. Park, Jr. of Gainesville, GA, is serving as Judicial Watch’s local counsel. 

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