A lawsuit filed against the Georgia State Election Board has settled.
The watchdog group American Oversight sued the board over public records access. At issue was the use of private email accounts to conduct official business by members of the state board.
American Oversight sued in July 2024, when requests for records related to elections regulations and policy decisions were denied by board member Janice Johnston.
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The nonprofit organization accused Johnston of delaying public records request responses and refusing access to official emails.
They said the election board used Gmail for official correspondence.
“We learned that Johnston would not provide the SEB’s open records officer access to her SEB Gmail account to search for responsive public records, which we contended contributed to delays of up to six months,” a spokesperson said.
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Their lawsuit followed what they called “widespread concerns about the board’s transparency.”
After the lawsuit was filed, members of the State Election Board switched to Georgia government email accounts, which American Oversight said allowed the board’s open records officer to search for responsive records without interference.
According to the terms of the settlement, shared by American Oversight, the State Election Board’s members denied being liable for violating open records laws, and agreed to resolve the lawsuit by conducting any election board business and communications on government accounts only.
The board also agreed to instruct its members to ensure messages sent or received by email, text or on other applications are “contemporaneously retained until such messages are captured and forwarded to their respective government email account.:”
Those messages must be produced in response to open records requests that would include them.
The board agreed to provide these instructions to all current members within five business days of the agreement being finalized.
American Oversight said Wednesday that the settlement was agreed to via vote at the Nov. 12 State Election Board meeting.
The board was also ordered to pay American Oversight $50,000 as a settlement payment within 10 days of the lawsuit’s terms being agreed to. The lawsuit would be dismissed with prejudice once these conditions are met, according to court documents containing the settlement terms.
“When officials who continue to challenge the results of the 2020 election are put in charge of ensuring ‘fair, legal and orderly elections’ in Georgia — but do so behind closed doors — the integrity of our elections is at risk,” Chioma Chukwu, Executive Director of American Oversight, said in a statement. “No Georgian should have to question whether they’ll be disenfranchised simply because those administering elections disagree wisth their views.”
Chukwu said the settlement made it “clear that election officials are not above the law — they must comply with state transparency requirements, and if they don’t, they will be held accountable.”
Channel 2 Action News reached out to the State Election Board for comment on the settlement and is waiting for its members’ response.
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