True the Vote and Georgia Republican Party Violated Campaign Finance Laws by Illegally Coordinating Ahead of January Senate Runoff Elections

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Washington, D.C. – Today, Campaign Legal Center Action (CLCA) and Common Cause Georgia filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) alleging that during the lead up to the Georgia Senate runoff elections, the Georgia Republican Party illegally coordinated with True the Vote.

In December  2020, True the Vote, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, stated that it had received a request from the Georgia Republican Party for assistance with the 2021 Senate runoff election, and announced through a press release a partnership with the party to provide services in connection with the election. In the press release Georgia Republican Party Chairman, David Shafer said, “We are grateful for the help of the True the Vote team in the fight for election integrity,” and “The resources of True the Vote will help us organize and implement the most comprehensive ballot security initiative in Georgia history.”

The services True the Vote provided included a voter hotline, ballot-curing support, signature verification training and absentee ballot drop box monitoring. Federal law prohibits a corporation like True the Vote from coordinating with a political party on any expenditures made, “in connection with an election.”

“True the Vote stated publicly that it was coordinating its election activities with the Georgia Republican Party, and as a result, both violated federal campaign finance law,” said Brendan Fischer, CLCA director of federal reform. “It doesn’t matter if True the Vote expressly urged voters to elect Republicans, the relevant legal question is whether True the Vote spent money ‘in connection with an election’ and coordinated that spending with the Georgia Republican Party. The evidence shows that it did.”   

Campaign finance law treats coordinated expenditures as in-kind contributions. A corporation like True the Vote is prohibited from contributing to a party committee. By True the Vote coordinating its spending with the Georgia Republican Party, it illegally made in-kind contributions to the party, and the party illegally accepted those contributions.

“The pattern was clear, in the voting challenges,” said Common Cause Executive Director Aunna Dennis. “In Floyd County, the GOP vice chairman ‘filled out the form letter provided by True The Vote’ to challenge voters. In Cobb County, the voter challenges were filed by the county GOP chair. The Muscogee County voter challenges were filed ‘on behalf of’ the county GOP. In Gwinnett County, the challenges were made by the Assistant Secretary of the state GOP. This was a coordinated campaign to disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of Georgians before the January Senate runoffs.”

Corporations are not supposed to act as an arm of a campaign or political party, and since coordinated spending is just as valuable to a party as direct contributions, coordination between outside spenders and a political party is illegal. The FEC, which is the only government agency whose sole responsibility is overseeing the integrity of our political campaigns, must investigate and hold all parties accountable for their blatant disregard for campaign finance laws.

At Campaign Legal Center, we are advancing democracy through law. Learn more about our work.

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Campaign Finance

Combating State-Level Bills Restricting The Freedom To Vote

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State lawmakers are proposing a record number of anti-voter bills in state legislatures across the country. These bills come in many forms and disproportionately target marginalized communities. CLC is actively working with state and local stakeholders to limit their impact through legal action, legislative advocacy and public education.

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Issues
Voting and Elections
About This Case/Action

For democracy to work for all of us, it must be responsive to voters. Prominent politicians in 2020 turned their back on voters when they spread lies in an effort to undermine public confidence in the 2020 elections. Following the election, lawmakers in several states across the country are now introducing a record number of bills in state legislatures that would silence citizens by erecting more deliberate barriers to voting. These proposals attack people’s fundamental right to vote and come in many forms.

These bills would make it harder to register to vote, restrict people’s ability to request, receive and return mail-in ballots, delete voters from state voting rolls, cut down on early voting hours and more. With these bills, state politicians are purposefully targeting the voting methods favored by communities of color, younger voters, voters with disabilities and members of other marginalized groups in brazen attempts to cherry-pick their voters.

Campaign Legal Center (CLC) is actively working with state and local stakeholders to limit the impact of anti-voter bills through legal action, legislative advocacy and public education. CLC is working in many states across the nation fighting to support every eligible citizen’s right to participate in our democracy. State laws should make voting more, not less, accessible so that people can have their voices heard on the issues that matter most to them. We must ensure that Americans can cast ballots so we are able to elect leaders who govern in our interests and make the promise of our democracy real for us all. 

Georgia Voter Suppression Law Will Move Us Backwards

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ATLANTA, GA – Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed an omnibus bill into law Thursday night that will make sweeping changes to the state’s election procedures, making it significantly harder to vote following record turnout in the 2020 elections. Campaign Legal Center (CLC) is among the co-counsel representing FairFight Action in FairFight Action v. Raffensperger, a broad case addressing many existing deficiencies in Georgia’s electoral system on behalf of Georgia voters. CLC will continue to fight on behalf of Georgia voters, even as new burdens have been imposed.

“Georgia’s voter suppression law is democracy in reverse,” said Caleb Jackson, legal counsel, voting rights at Campaign Legal Center (CLC). “In our country, voters pick their politicians. The brazen power grab on display in Georgia is an attempt by politicians to cherry-pick their voters, making it more difficult for communities of color to exercise their freedom to vote. Georgia’s legislative push is part of a nationwide backlash responding to the multi-racial coalition that voted in record numbers in 2020. This anti-voter trend should alarm the entire nation at a time when the federal court system has chipped away at legal protections for voters that have historically faced discrimination at the ballot box.”

The law, SB 202, would allow a state takeover of county election boards and permit partisan poll watchers to launch unlimited challenges to voter eligibility. It will also restrict access to ballot drop boxes and make it a crime for volunteers to pass out food and water to voters waiting in line at voting centers. Augusta, Georgia disability rights advocate Gaylon Tootle recently described the attitude behind this provision as “a mean-spirited, Southern plantation style mentality.”

SB 202 would also allow the state to relocate polling places just 60 days before an election and toss out the ballots of confused voters who show up to the wrong polling place as a result.

At Campaign Legal Center, we are advancing democracy through law. Learn more about our work.

Issues
Voting and Elections
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