Two Republican activists have filed a federal lawsuit seeking to force Fulton County to remove people they believe are ineligible from its voting rolls.
In the lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Atlanta, Jason Frazier and Earl Ferguson say the county has violated federal and state law by refusing to routinely remove ineligible voters from its rolls. They also say the county illegally failed to act on a challenge to the eligibility of voters that Frazier filed earlier this month.
The lawsuit seeks a court order compelling the county to act on Frazier’s challenge and to conduct broader voter cancellations in advance of the November election. A spokesperson for Fulton County did not immediately respond to a request for comment. County officials have said accusations that they’re not properly maintaining voter rolls are false.
The lawsuit is the latest front in a yearslong battle over how to ensure ineligible voters do not cast ballots in Georgia elections. The debate stems in part from former President Donald Trump’s false allegations that tens of thousands of ineligible people voted in the 2020 election.
Numerous state and federal investigations found no evidence of widespread fraud, and studies show voting fraud is rare. This week two men were charged with felonies on allegations they voted in Georgia and other states — the first known criminal prosecutions involving accusations of voting fraud in Georgia in years.
Nonetheless, suspicions fueled by Trump’s allegations have prompted the General Assembly to make it easier for residents to challenge the eligibility of thousands of Georgia voters at a time. County election boards have typically rejected massive challenges, citing a lack of sufficient evidence that the voters were not eligible.
Frazier and Ferguson have filed unsuccessful challenges in the past. Last year Fulton County determined that the vast majority of people whose residency had been questioned were, in fact, eligible to vote.
Most recently, Frazier challenged the eligibility of Fulton County voters earlier this month.
The lawsuit says county officials failed to respond to the challenge in a timely fashion, as required by law. It also says the county has failed to properly interpret a federal law that prohibits systematic voter challenges within 90 days of a federal election.
The lawsuit says the law prohibits governments from systematically purging voting rolls within 90 days of an election but does not prohibit the type of challenges submitted by citizens such as Frazier.
Among other things, the lawsuit seeks to compel Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to issue a statewide directive stating that challenges such as Frazier’s are not barred within 90 days of an election. Raffensperger’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Last year the Republican Party twice sought to appoint Frazier to the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections. But the Democratic-led County Commission rejected his appointment, saying his mass voter challenges undermine public confidence in elections.
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