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Warnock Voter-Registration Group Under Investigation for Election Law Violations

Raphael Warnock
Sen. Raphael Warnock (D., Ga.) / Getty Images
February 11, 2021

Sen. Raphael Warnock (D.) is under investigation in Georgia for election law violations after his nonprofit group allegedly failed to properly submit over 1,200 voter applications to the state in 2019.

The New Georgia Project, a voter registration group founded by failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams and overseen by Warnock until last year, allegedly "submitted 1,268 voter registration applications [to the state] after the 10-day deadline, causing voters to be disenfranchised in the March 19, 2019 special election," according to a statement from the Georgia State Election Board.

Warnock is a respondent in the case because the group listed him as CEO in its corporate records from 2017 to 2020, according to local news reports. He was also listed as the authorized signatory of the group's filings in February 2020.

The election board referred the case to the attorney general's office for criminal prosecution on Wednesday.

This is not the only probe into the New Georgia Project's election activities. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R.) is also investigating the group for allegedly sending registration applications to out-of-state residents in New York City and for accusations that canvassers working for the group forged application signatures.

Warnock was at the New Georgia Project from 2014 until last January, when he launched his campaign for U.S. Senate.

The New Georgia Project told local reporters that Warnock served as chairman of the board during this time but that he was listed as CEO in error after a "third-party firm misfiled our corporate documents."

"Election fraud is not tolerated in Georgia. When there is evidence of it, the people responsible face prosecution," Secretary Raffensperger said in a statement Wednesday. "Georgia has multiple safeguards in place that allow our team of investigators to discover fraudulent voting. They worked to catch the wrongdoing in these cases, and they maintain the security of Georgia elections."

Published under: Raphael Warnock