The executive director of Georgia’s State Election Board has asked the Justice Department to investigate the state’s voting systems.
Board executive director James Mills penned the letter to Attorney General Todd Blanche, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon, and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on Wednesday. His request comes one month before Election Day and less than two weeks before early voting begins in Georgia.
Board executive director James Mills asked the DOJ for its “review and, where appropriate, investigation and intervention concerning Georgia’s voting system, ballot secrecy, preservation and access to election records, and the sharing of voter registration and motor vehicle data with outside organizations.”
Georgia has been at the center of the election integrity conversation in the United States since President Donald Trump claimed he won the state in 2020, despite losing to then-President-elect Joe Biden. Republican state election officials such as Mills have sparred with Democrats and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, over their views on the state’s election system for the past several years.
Mills asked the DOJ to review election aspects such as the state’s QR-code tabulation systems, the voting software, and the operating environment. QR-code tabulation voting systems have also been a focal point of debates over election system security for years, with election integrity advocates and Republicans warning about the possibility of electronic QR-code-based systems making errors or being susceptible to hacks.
Mills also made allegations in his letter about Raffensperger, including that he “restricted access to election records.” The letter asks the DOJ to hold Raffensperger and any other state election officials accountable for allegedly altering records.
Raffensperger’s office bashed Mills’s letter in a statement shared with the Washington Examiner.
“People who are serious about election security don’t inject chaos in the eleventh hour,” Raffensperger spokeswoman Michon Lindstrom said. “In roughly 30 days, Georgia’s 159 election directors will conduct a free, fair, and fast election for all eligible Georgia voters.”
Justice Department officials told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution regarding Mills’s letter that “any decision on whether to take action is made independently by the Department, based on the facts and the law.”
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Georgia has several closely followed races this year, including its Senate and gubernatorial elections.
Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) is running for reelection against Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) in what the Cook Political Report deems a “likely Democratic” race. Meanwhile, Republican Rick Jackson is taking on former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms in a toss-up race for governor.