WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the Georgia Republican Party (GAGOP) filed multiple lawsuits against Fulton and Gwinnett County election officials for violating state law by illegally expanding ballot drop-off locations and undermining required security safeguards.
“Georgia legislators are responsible for making the state’s election laws, not unelected bureaucrats,” said RNC Chairman Joe Gruters. “County election boards cannot rewrite those rules by creating unauthorized drop-off locations or weakening safeguards. The RNC is fighting to protect election integrity and ensure the law is enforced.”
Background:
The RNC is partnering with the GAGOP, local Republican parties, and Secretary of State Candidate Tim Fleming to sue members of the Boards of Registration and Elections.
The lawsuits challenge members on the Board of Registration and Elections for unlawfully creating new absentee ballot drop-off locations beyond the drop boxes authorized under Georgia law.
In Gwinnett County, the RNC is challenging a policy that violates state law by allowing absentee ballots to be returned to election workers instead of to designated custodians or drop box locations.
Both counties are in clear violation of state law, SB202. The counties are attempting to deceive voters by labeling these additional drop-off locations as “ballot bags,” and creating a new, unauthorized method for returning absentee ballots by allowing voters to hand them to poll workers at polling locations for later transfer.
These processes are not permitted under Georgia law and undermine the safeguards regarding how absentee ballots must be securely returned and handled.
These policies fail to ensure poll-watcher access at the ballot bag locations during the receipt of ballots and allow ballots to be collected outside legal voting hours and on Election Day, in direct violation of Georgia law.
The policies also improperly allow poll workers to receive absentee ballots, despite state law prohibiting it.
The RNC is challenging these illegal policies because they weaken protections designed to prevent lost, mishandled, or unaccounted-for ballots.
The RNC has been working to defend SB202 since it was signed into law in 2021, supporting its implementation and defense against repeated attacks from Democrats and left-wing organizations.
