Trump says GA Election Board members are 'pit bulls' for 'victory,' but is that their job?
www.usatoday.com
... At a rally in Atlanta on Saturday, former President Donald Trump praised three members of the Georgia State Election Board as "pit bulls fighting for honesty, transparency and victory." Trump even shouted them out by name, saying they "are doing a great job."
It was a very specific hat tip from the Republican presidential nominee to three members of a generally obscure group of state officials who oversee elections in the key battleground state.
All three members of the board -- Dr. Janice Johnston, Rick Jaffares and Janelle King -- have, like Trump, questioned the results of the 2020 election. And the trio came under fire recently from a good government group for quietly holding a meeting without the other two members in an attempt to pass new election rules that would increase the number of partisan poll watchers.
"To the extent that Trump is that intimately aware of who is on the State Election Board and is championing them ... that should raise the alarm bells for everybody, said Chioma Chukwu, the interim executive director of American Oversight, a nonprofit that pushes for government transparency. American Oversight said that partisan actors could use the proposed rule changes to sow chaos and confusion into the 2024 election. ...
Three Trumpian Republicans make up a majority ...
Three members hastily adopted new election rules ...
American Oversight alleged in its lawsuit the rules were unlawful because the members did not provide at least one week of advance notice; that the meeting did not involve a quorum of three people appearing in person because Johnston attended remotely; and did not provide teleconference access to the meeting for the general public.
Jeffares and Johnston didn't respond to requests for comment.
American Oversight also said the three Republican board members went ahead with the July 12 meeting despite advance guidance from the Georgia Attorney General's office that the meeting would likely violate Georgia law. Kara Murray, the state Attorney General's office communications director, told USA TODAY the office can't speak about communications with the board because it represents the election board and therefore is constrained by attorney-client privilege. ...
