Seemingly reeling from former President Donald Trump's historic loss in the state and subsequent Senate race losses, officials in Georgia are now going after Sen. Raphael Warnock, according to Forbes.
Three Republican officials on the Georgia State Election Board voted to kickstart an investigation into the New Georgia Project, founded by Stacey Abrams because the group allegedly submitted 1,268 applications to the Gwinnett County elections office in 2019 after the ten-day application deadline had passed.
Warnock worked as chairman of the board of the organization which has done pivotal voter outreach work. The New Georgia Project brought in thousands of new voters from all races in the 2020 election and January Senate runoffs, helping turn a previously solid red state into a blue one.
The case has been sent to Georgia’s Republican Attorney General Chris Carr.
It should be noted that while many outlets are saying the Georgia State Election Board "voted unanimously" to approve the investigation, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and the only Democrat on the board both abstained from voting, meaning just three Republicans came together to vote on this.
“Today’s State Election Board meeting was the first time we heard about the allegations regarding NGP’s important voter registration work from 2019. We have not received any information on this matter from the Secretary or any other Georgia official,” New Georgia Project CEO Nse Ufot said in a statement to Forbes.
Republicans in the state have faced national backlash from Republican leaders for not doing more to stop voter outreach efforts.
Trump himself caused outrage when he called Raffensperger and demanded him to create 11,000 votes in order for him to beat President Joe Biden, according to The Washington Post.
“So look. All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state,” Trump said to Raffensperger in the now-infamous call.
“The people of Georgia are angry, the people of the country are angry. And there’s nothing wrong with saying, you know, that you’ve recalculated,” Trump said.
Raffensperger and others were outraged that Trump would ask them to effectively create votes out of thin air in order to give him the win, and Trump has spent weeks galvanizing Republicans against Raffensperger, controversial Republican governor Brian Kemp and other Republican officials in the state.
Kemp and others have sought to appease their critics by launching investigations into the New Georgia Project and floating harsh voting laws that would add a number of restrictions aimed at limiting the ability of Black communities to vote, according to WABE.
The outlet reported that on Thursday, four of the more than 20 bills centered on voting were sent to committees for vetting. These bills include harsh voter ID laws, restrictive absentee ballot rules and other measures to limit the number of people who can vote. Many of those submitting the bills are Republicans who spread misinformation about the 2020 election.
"This unhinged set of voter suppression bills from a radical Senate Republican leadership appears intended to appease conspiracy theorists like those who stormed the Capitol last month,” voting rights group Fair Fight spokesman Seth Bringman told GBP.
“The bills are unnecessary by Republicans' own assessments of the 2020 election and designed to limit access and help Republicans stop losing elections in Georgia. Republicans wrote Georgia's election laws, but they were humiliated on Nov. 3 and Jan. 5, so they are seeking to silence Georgians, particularly communities of color, who exercised their power to change Georgia," he added.
