True the Vote, a Houston, Texas based conservative group that labels itself as one of the ‘country’s largest voters’ rights organization’ is gearing up to preemptively challenge over 300,000 votes in Georgia during the Senate runoff elections.
“True the Vote announced today it is submitting 364,541 Elector Challenges on behalf of Georgia voters representing all 159 counties,” the group said in a press release. “An Elector Challenge is a unique feature in Georgia law (GA. CODE ANN. § 21-2-230). It allows a voter to challenge the eligibility of any other voters in his or her county if probable cause exists to show that the challenged voter does not meet the qualifications legally required to cast a ballot,” the group explains.
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The group’s founder and president Catherine Engelbrecht, said preemptively challenging these votes “will help ensure only legal, eligible votes are counted in Georgia’s January 5 runoff elections and she hopes that this unprecedented voter suppression tactic will “mark the beginning of the great awakening of American voters to serve our democracy by getting involved in the process.”
Last month the group was sued by major donor, North Carolina investor Fred Eshelman who demanded that they repay him the 2.5 million he gave them to help pay for challenges to the election results. The group was making unfounded claims of voter fraud in the election.
In his lawsuit, Eshelman said the group did not do its job. He said they broke their promise to “investigate, litigate, and expose suspected illegal balloting and fraud.”
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Marc Elias, Democratic election lawyer is confident that this latest attempt at voter suppression by the group will fail but wondered if any Republican officials will denounce it.
“Voter suppression group, True the Vote is coordinating preemptive challenges of 364,541 voters,” Elias wrote on Twitter. “This is Trumpism in action. Will any Republican official denounce it? Either way, this attack on democracy is illegal and will not succeed.”
