GA officials investigate groups that mobilized Black voters in state crucial to election outcome

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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2021/feb/12/donald-trump-impeachment-senate-trial-defense-lwayer-republican-senators-coronavirus-covid-live-updates?page=with:block-60266f7c8f0886db2aba76b3#block-60266f7c8f0886db2aba76b3

3h ago 07:09
Georgia officials investigate groups that mobilized Black voters in state crucial to election outcome

Sam Levine

The Georgia state election board referred two cases to prosecutors on Wednesday connected to organizations that helped mobilize a record number of voters in the state during the 2020 election, a move critics say is an intimidation effort.

One case involves the New Georgia Project (NGP), the group founded by Stacey Abrams in 2014, that helps mobilize voters of color. In 2019, investigators allege, the group violated state law by not handing in 1,268 voter registration applications within the 10 days required under state rules. The named respondent in the matter is Senator Raphael Warnock, who the group says was serving as the chairman of its board at the time, but was incorrectly listed on documents as the group’s CEO, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“The February 10th State Election Board meeting was the first time NGP heard about the allegations regarding NGP’s important voter registration work from 2019,” Nse Ufot, who has served as the group’s CEO since 2014, said in a statement. “We have not received any information on this matter from the Secretary or any other Georgia official so we will have no further comment on the investigation.”

The episode marks the latest example of Republicans targeting the group. In 2014, Brian Kemp, then the state’s top election official, announced an investigation into allegations of forged registration materials but found no widespread wrongdoing. Late last year, the secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, accused the group of soliciting people from outside of Georgia to register in the state – which the group denied.

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