Represented by American Oversight and Caplan Cobb, Free Speech For Folks despatched a letter demanding the manufacturing of a public report of an alleged voting system breach.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – October 8, 2024 – Representing Free Speech For Folks, American Oversight and Caplan Cobb despatched a requirement letter right this moment to Corridor Sales space Smith, P.C. (HBS), attorneys for Ware County, Georgia, demanding manufacturing of a public report that seems to verify the Trump marketing campaign infiltrated the county’s voting system in late 2020.
The demand letter seeks a report connected to textual content messages produced at trial within the civil litigation Curling v. Raffensperger that seems to verify the Trump marketing campaign’s illegal entry to the county’s voting gear. (Free Speech For Folks, American Oversight, and Caplan Cobb will not be events to the litigation.)
The texts present a dialog between HBS legal professional for Ware County, Tony Rowell, and Blake (Ed) Voyles, discussing reviews that the Trump marketing campaign had taken a voting system from Ware County. Voyles is a resident of neighboring Espresso County, the place Trump operatives unlawfully accessed voting gear over a number of days in early 2021. Voyles is proven on surveillance digital camera footage to be current throughout one of many unauthorized safety breaches. Rowell and HBS symbolize each Ware and Espresso Counties.
Within the textual content messages, Voyles despatched Rowell a put up from social media reporting allegations that the Trump marketing campaign obtained a voting system from Ware County, and requested Rowell if he could possibly confirm the report. Rowell responded, “I’ll confirm.” Two days later Rowell despatched Voyles an attachment labeled “ware-county-confirmation.jpg” accompanied by the message “CALL ME. T”. Free Speech For Folks has sought the attachment by means of Georgia’s open data regulation since February 2024. Representing Ware County, HBS has refused to supply the attachment, claiming that it’s personal communication between Rowell and Voyles, in Rowell’s capability as a non-public citizen.
The demand letter refutes HBS’s claims that the attachment to Rowell’s textual content message is a non-public communication, unconnected to his function as Ware County Legal professional. Somewhat, the letter explains that beneath current Georgia Supreme Courtroom precedent, the attachment to Rowell’s textual content message is a public report as a result of it considerations county enterprise that Mr. Rowell might solely have information of or entry to by advantage of his place as Ware County Legal professional. The letter additional refutes HBS’s claims that the attachment—which Rowell shared with a non-public citizen who has no place with the Ware County authorities—is exempt from disclosure as an attorney-client communication or legal professional work product. The demand letter concludes by noting that Rowell and HBS had beforehand stonewalled in disclosing the surveillance video that documented the unauthorized entry to Espresso County election gear, however that additional delay right here is unacceptable and HBS should instantly adjust to its obligations beneath the Open Data Act.
“Voting gear is a county asset and is designated as a part of our nationwide essential infrastructure. It’s preposterous to assert {that a} report – which ostensibly confirms the misappropriation of voting gear by a political marketing campaign – will not be public enterprise,” mentioned Susan Greenhalgh, senior advisor for election safety at Free Speech For Folks. “It seems Mr. Rowell investigated allegations of a possible crime by Trump allies, obtained a “affirmation” of that potential crime, and is purposefully concealing it from the general public. HBS’ specious assertion that the communication is ‘personal’ raises necessary extra authorized and moral questions on these personal actions.”
“As these spreading election conspiracy theories proceed to gin up unfounded claims of defective voting gear to forged doubt on the validity of our election outcomes, the menace posed by unauthorized entry to essential voting infrastructure is actual and should be taken critically,” mentioned Chioma Chukwu, Interim Government Director at American Oversight. “It’s deeply regarding {that a} county official would go to such nice lengths to keep away from turning over a public report for greater than seven months, notably the place that report might make clear whether or not allies of Donald Trump additionally gained entry to Ware County’s voting gear.”
In 2022, paperwork, testimony and surveillance video obtained by the plaintiffs within the Curling litigation revealed that Espresso County had been the positioning of a significant election safety breach in 2021. Operatives employed by Trump marketing campaign attorneys had unfettered entry to the voting system over a number of days. They took copies of the voting system software program used throughout the state and shared the software program with a community of election deniers that attempted to overturn the 2020 election. The software program taken from Espresso County continues for use by Trump allies in efforts to problem and overturn election outcomes.
The paperwork additionally confirmed that the voting system heist in Espresso County, Georgia was a part of a multistate effort by attorneys and allies for Donald Trump to entry voting system software program from key swing states, a lot of it funded and directed by Sidney Powell. (Powell was criminally charged for her function within the breaches in Espresso County by Fulton County District Legal professional Fani Willis and pleaded responsible. Nonetheless, neither native or state regulation enforcement in Georgia has charged anybody of those alleged crimes.)
Free Speech For Folks has organized a marketing campaign to demand a federal investigation into the multistate plot by Trump supporters to take voting software program. Free Speech For Folks additionally recognized testimony supplied to the January 6th Committee that implies the plot was mentioned in Donald Trump’s presence.
When the proof surfaced suggesting that there was one other voting system safety breach in Georgia, Free Speech For Folks sought the report in query by means of a public data request.
“The nine-year sentence handed down final week to Tina Peters for her function within the voting system breach in Mesa, Colorado ought to serve as an example that unauthorized entry to voting gear is doubtlessly a severe matter that must be handled accordingly,” Greenhalgh mentioned.
“We nonetheless don’t understand how broad the scheme to take voting software program actually is, or what number of states and localities have been compromised, or the place the software program has been shared as a result of there isn’t a federal investigation into these breaches – which have severe penalties for each election safety and nationwide safety,” mentioned John Bonifaz, president and co-founder of Free Speech For Folks. “By uncovering extra proof displaying an excellent wider plot, we are going to enhance strain on federal regulation enforcement to do its job and shield our elections.”
Click on right here for the demand letter issued right this moment.
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Learn extra: Demanding Federal Motion on the Trump Marketing campaign’s Efforts to Copy and Distribute Voting System Software program – Free Speech For Folks
In Georgia, the ‘Greatest Election Breach’ in Historical past Has Gone Uninvestigated – NOTUS (Allbritton Journalism Institute)
The Georgia vote machine theft is a menace to the 2024 election. (slate.com)
Who’s probing Trump allies’ effort to entry voting methods? – Los Angeles Instances (latimes.com)
A New Participant in Espresso County | Lawfare (lawfaremedia.org)
