Georgia election board drops suit after group fails to produce ballot-stuffing evidence

ATLANTA -- The Georgia State Election Board on Wednesday voted to dismiss a lawsuit seeking to enforce a subpoena against a conservative group that was unable to produce evidence to support its claims of ballot stuffing in the state.

Texas-based True the Vote in 2021 filed complaints with Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, including one in which it said it had obtained “a detailed account of coordinated efforts to collect and deposit ballots in drop boxes across metro Atlanta” during the November 2020 election and a crucial runoff election for two U.S. Senate seats in January 2021.

Investigators with the secretary's office looked into the group's complaints and in April 2022 subpoenaed True the Vote for evidence supporting its allegations. A lawyer for the group wrote to a state attorney in May 2023 that a complete response would require it to identify people to whom it had pledged confidentiality and said it was withdrawing its complaints.

Then-State Election Board chair William Duffey responded that the group had made “serious allegations” and that he wouldn't allow the complaints to be withdrawn. He asked the state attorney general's office to enforce the subpoenas, and the board filed a lawsuit.

A Fulton County judge in November 2023 ordered True the Vote to provide evidence it had collected, including the names of people it said had provided information. The organization said in a subsequent court filing it had no names, contact information or other documentary evidence to provide. The case was administratively closed in January 2024.




https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/georgia-election-board-drops-suit-after-group-fails-119228854