Category: Election
Time to Make the Most of the “Red Wave”

Time to Make the Most of the “Red Wave”

Georgia Republican Assembly members are ecstatic about the results from the General Election this past Tuesday! Obviously, we are thrilled that our NFRAendorsed candidate for POTUS Donald Trump made history by becoming the first since Grover Cleveland (1837 – 1908) to be elected to two non-consecutive terms. But far more significantly, we are excited about the real policy differences this election win forecasts.

This election revealed that at least 72 million Americans have not been completely brain-washed by MSNBC, CNN, the Washington Post, and other “fake news” legacy media outlets.

With a newly won Republican majority back in the U.S. Senate and a renewed Republican majority appearing to materialize in the U.S. House, Trump is poised to make strides to accomplish a lot. “With these wins, Republicans need to make hay while the sun shines to implement as many changes as possible while they have the majority,” said GRA President Nathaniel Darnell. “No more playing it safe to try to stay in power (which always eventually back-fires)! They need to get as much good done as possible while they can!”

This election represents not only a warm embrace of the policy changes proposed by the Trump-Vance ticket, but also a firm rejection of the clown world policies that have accelerated under Democrats over the last four years! Americans don’twant the wild Woke policies of trans-your-kids, push DEI, make taxpayers pay for trans surgeries for prisoners, pit the skin colors and the sexes against each other, finance both sides of a war across the world, cutoff energy pipelines in our land, and compel private social media outlets to censor anyone who disagrees!

Americans want to open up our oil pipelines, protect the border, lower our tax burden & inflation, provide a healthy environment for Americans businesses and workers, support medical freedom, cut waste and overregulation in the federal bureaucracy, and many other strong policies that the team Trump is assembling, appear well equipped to advance.

GRA-member Marjorie Taylor Greene also won reelection for her 14th GA Congressional seat with 64.39% of the vote, and GRA-endorsed Congressman Andrew Clyde (GA-9) won re-election with 69.02% of the vote in his race. They will no doubt be among the Republicans in D.C. working hard to implement positive changes quickly.

President Trump’s indication to include other notable leaders like Kentucky’s Thomas Massie, Robert Kennedy Jr., Elon Musk, Ron Paul, and Joel Salatin in areas of his administration where they excel, gives hope for real progress on the horizon.

How Did this Georgia Victory Happen?

How Did this Georgia Victory Happen?

There’s no disputing that all eyes were on Georgia Tuesday as the election results arrived. At the latest tally, it appears that Trump beat Harris in Georgia by 117,812 votes.

Several factors contributed to ensure Democrats did not effectively cheat state-wide and to make sure Trump’s success was “too big to rig!”

For one, the legal team did not get caught flat-footed.

One of the most critical things was the success by GA GOP Chairman Josh McKoon(working with RNC Chairman Michael Whatley) to expedite an appeal to the Georgia State Supreme Court over the weekend. The high court responded by ruling that no non-military absentee ballots could be counted if they were received after Election Day. That cut off an avenue for the Democrats, in places like Fulton County, to stuff sufficient ballots in Georgia to overturn the results. If it wasn’t for that accomplishment, we might still be in suspense today, awaiting the final election outcome.

For another thing, GRA members who have been positioned in key county and congressional district GOP leadership positions worked hard with their teams to get out the vote. The massive early voting by Republican voters in all counties was crucial. Even in counties in metro-Atlanta that are now eclipsed by majority Democrat voters, the Republican raw vote was essential.

For example, Gwinnett County brought in 172,812 votes for Trump, Cobb County brought in 168,286, and Fulton County brought in 142,912. If you subtract those results from any of those counties, Trump would not have won. Even DeKalb County with its 62,482 votes for Trump helped to push the margin of victory far enough from the Democrat’s clutches so as to render it too significant to steal the election.

That is why it was valuable to have so many Republicans running in down-ballot races, even in places that were considered too blue to win. We are grateful for all of those who put in the effort to recruit candidates before March this year!

In addition to the top-of the ticket victories, our GRA members in local GOP leadership also enjoyed other hard-fought wins in their communities. For example, in Whitfield County, GRA member Eddie Caldwell (Whitfield County GOP Chair) and his team defeated a Democrat who has held office as Sheriff for 32 years!

In Cobb County, GRA-member Salleigh Grubbs (Cobb GOP Chair) resoundingly defeated an M-SPLOSTincrease proposed by the Democrat commissioners and helped Republicans retain majority control of the county School Board. Brad Wheeler and Randy Scamihorn were incumbent Republicans on the school board who had been targeted for removal by the Southern Poverty Law Center after they opposed trans and other perverse indoctrination taking place in classrooms behind parents’ backs.

Meanwhile, Middle GA RA Chapter leader Troy Cook overwhelmingly won his race for Crawford County Commissioner District 2 with 67.45% of the vote.

The third main contributor to success on Tuesday was that so many GRA members and other grassroots activists have worked tirelessly and vigilantly over the last four years to push hard for real election integrity reformin our state. Although not everything we’ve been fighting for has yet been accomplished, the wins we have experienced definitely made our election systems much less vulnerable to the Democrats’ potential cheating efforts than they were in 2020.

More GRA-Endorsed Legislative and Local Candidate Victories!

More GRA-Endorsed Legislative and Local Candidate Victories!

The Georgia Freedom Caucus has another member among its ranks at the State Capitol. In spite of opposition and harassment from the Republican Establishment in Atlanta, our GRA-endorsed State House candidate Noelle Kahaian came out on top in her election for State House District 81 with 19,122 votes to the Democrat’s 14,392 votes. Noelle has been a patriot activist for several years working on common sense legislation to protect children from obscenity and harmful gender ideology in government schools and libraries. Her victory is particularly notable because she defeated a R.I.N.O. incumbent in the primary earlier this year.

Meanwhile, GRA-endorsed State Senator Colton Moore (R-53) resoundingly won re-election with 78.77% of the vote in Northwest Georgia. Moore has had the best vote score of any legislator in the Georgia General Assembly over the last term — a fact that seems to have sparked some jealously among the R.I.N.O.s in the State Senate who removed him from their Senate so-called “Republican” Caucus.

Ken Pullin

In other local down ballot races, several GRA-endorsed candidates also clinched it. For example, GRA member Keith Bowen won election as Miller County Commissioner, receiving 84% of the vote! Endorsed candidate Clyde McDaniel for Whitfield County Cornor won his race with 73% of the vote.

Still more GRA-endorsed candidates won without opposition in the general election, including State Rep. Charlice Byrd (R-20), Tony Abernathy for Murray County School Board, and Ken Pullin for Pike County Board of Commissioners.

SEB Chairman Fervier Makes Up-Coming Meeting Virtual Only

SEB Chairman Fervier Makes Up-Coming Meeting Virtual Only

After the huge attendance of election integrity advocates at the state capitol for the last several State Board of Elections meetings, Governor Kemp’s appointed Chairman for the Board, John Fervier announced that the next meeting(s) would only be virtual online.

The next Board Meeting is scheduled for August 19th. “I wonder if the first item of business,” said GRA Chairman Alex Johnson, “should be to vote to have all in-person meetings in the future unless there’s an emergency agreed to by at least three members?”

By making the SEB meetings virtual they are preventing election integrity activists from providing in-person, demonstrable proof of concerned voters, holding signs and getting media attention for election reform, thus making them easier to ignore. No doubt the Chairman probably hopes to squelch the growing momentum within the movement and prevent the morale boost that results from seeing hundreds of fellow activists joining forces from around the state. But election integrity activists have decided to double down.

Jason Frazier, the GRA Election Integrity Action Group Chairman, posted the email addresses of the SEB members on X and urged people to contact them: “Tell them the brave folks in GA want to meet in person!”

Please email the State Election Board today:

jfervier.seb@gmail.com

jjohnstonmd.seb@gmail.com

rjeffares.seb@gmail.com

jking.seb@gmail.com

saraghazal.seb@gmail.com

He also suggested the board members who are not afraid of concerned citizens perhaps book a room at the Capitol where they can log in to the virtual call and allow the public to join. This would help the voters participate who are technologically challenged. Please suggest this option in your email to the SEB members. Frazier also suggested everyone contact Governor Kemp as well.

This news broke as Attorney General Chris Carr announced that he would follow the State Board’s recent vote calling for him to investigate evidence of problems with the Fulton County elections from 2020. Carr said in a statement: “The State of Georgia will investigate specific claims of voter fraud. Based on the facts & the evidence, we stand ready to prosecute any voter fraud found in the State of Georgia.”

But Kandiss Taylor, GRA Member and First District GOP Chairwoman, remains skeptical. She discovered donor records showing the Republican Attorneys General Association gave Governor Kemp over $1.8 Million in four donations. She believes this is why there has been no investigation of voter fraud.

GRA member and GA GOP Over 80K Chairwoman Salleigh Grubbs from Cobb called on activists to sign the petition being promoted by VoterGA & the GA Constitution Party, encouraging the State Elections Board to vote for a new rule to increase election integrity.

August State Board of Elections Meetings Continue to Show Signs of Progress

August State Board of Elections Meetings Continue to Show Signs of Progress

Atlanta, GA — An estimated over 300 election integrity activists from every corner of the state showed up at the State Board of Elections Meeting and a Press Conference (organized by Georgians for Truth) Tuesday at the State Capitol, filling up three rooms! Many of us from the GRA were pleased to be among them. With so many items on the agenda, the meeting progressed into a second day.

Chairman John Fervier (appointed by Governor Brian Kemp) displayed what appeared to be hostility to the election integrity activists by throwing a curve ball in changing the process for how people could sit in the main room. In the past, access to the main room has been based upon first-come-first-served, but the Chairman imposed a new system whereby attendees had to receive tickets to get a seat, and priority was given to members of the press and state legislature in order to have access to the main room. Several who arrived early to get a seat were told they had to move to an overflow room because they did not have a ticket.

Jason Frazier

The GRA’s Election Integrity Action Group Chairman Jason Frazier observed about the meeting: “I would be surprised if Fervier makes it to the end of his term. Pressure is building. Meetings went from quarterly to 3-4 days/month. He is no longer the alpha in the room. Hundreds of people are showing up, thousands more watching. He has lost control of the meeting. People that know him and his family say that he wasn’t like this, etc.” He described Fervier’s actions as “Waffle House,” a play on Fervier’s career as an Executive at the company.

GRA-member & 1st District Chairwoman Kandiss Taylor summarized the situation on the State Elections Board well when she wrote on X that it “has [three] ethical, moral, election responsible members. They have a liberal [D]emocrat as well as a Kemp appointed Chairman that both are fighting the Georgians who just want truth and accountability.”

So far both Republican Party appointed Dr. Janice Johnston and GA State House appointed Janelle King have been the most reliable leaders of election integrity reforms on the SEB, although even they mused aloud that some of the rule proposals presented this week crossed the line, in their minds, from rule-making into possible legislating, in particular one that would have substituted Dominion computer voting for paper ballots under particular circumstances. State Senate appointed member Rick Jeffres is increasingly voting with Johnston and King in favor of rule reforms. Democrat appointed member Sara Tindell Ghazal and Kemp appointee Chairman Fervier are more often finding themselves voting together in the minority.

GRA-member and Cobb GOP Chairwoman Salleigh Grubbs pointed out the problem of the SEB not having their own legal counsel, but being strapped to the counsel of the Secretary of State. “How many times are y’all going to allow a data breach form the Secretary of State’s office before you do something about it?” she asked.

GRA-member Matt Rowenczak testifies at the SEB Meeting Tuesday.

Eyebrows were raised when a lawyer from Washington, D.C. was brought in Tuesday to testify against the need for certain election integrity reforms. Dr. Johnston asked who invited him to speak for 30 minutes in front of the Board, and Chairman Fervier replied somewhat testily that that was his decision.

The Georgia SEB received national attention this week for voting to pass a rule that would require “a reasonable inquiry” before certifying an election where there were signs of possible fraud or miscalculation. Detractors of the rule argued that the rule provision was ambiguous and could keep election results tied up in court for months.

Former President Donald Trump praised the development. “I won Alabama by a record,” he said of the 2020 election. “I won South Carolina by a record. You don’t win Alabama and South Carolina by records and lose Georgia. It doesn’t happen. All we want is honest elections. If we have honest elections in Georgia, if we have honest elections in Pennsylvania, we’re gonna win ’em by a lot.”

Update: In a 3-2 vote Wednesday, election board members Rick Jeffares, Janice Johnston and Janelle King voted to report findings from the Fulton County investigation of double balloting, missing ballot images and a host of other violations tied to the controversial 2020 presidential election to the Attorney General. The vote Wednesday referred the Fulton case to Attorney General Chris Carr‘s office for investigation into 17,852 reported missing ballot images, the double-counting of more than 3,000 ballot vote images, and other election-related violations.

Remember that Trump only allegedly lost Georgia in the presidential race of 2020 by about 12,000 votes. If there were double votes on some of those, that would reduce the number to about 9,000 votes. If there are over 17,000 ballot images missing that were in favor of Trump in that election, then he would have rightfully won that presidential election — contrary to what has been reported.

Above are images of the three full rooms with attendees at the State Board of Elections Meeting Tuesday.

Trump Picks NFRA-Endorsed Sen. J.D. Vance for Vice President

Trump Picks NFRA-Endorsed Sen. J.D. Vance for Vice President

Milwaukee, Wisconsin — President Donald J. Trump announced his pick for running mate: JD Vance from Ohio!

Donald Trump and J.D. Vance

We are particularly excited about this decision because at our NFRA Convention last year in Orlando, Florida, the NFRA delegates endorsed seven potential candidates for Vice President — and only J.D. Vance remained on the short-list.

We appreciate President Trump hearing our counsel and advice to have a better conservative like Vance on his team, rather than some of the other candidates who were on the short list. The Freedom Index, a scorecard provided by the John Birch Society, which upholds a high standard on a variety of issues, gives Vance an 86% voting record as a U.S. Senator.

Both former President Donald Trump and Senator Vance were both overwhelmingly nominated as the Republican nominees for President and Vice President in 2024 at the convention.

Report on GA Runoff Victories

Report on GA Runoff Victories

Former State Sen. Mike Crane congratulates Brian Jack for winning the nomination for Congressional District 3.

There were lots of potential good news from last night’s Republican Primary runoff! In particular, Establishment-candidate Sen. Mike Dugan (who had a 35% “F” legislative vote score in 2023) was defeated by Brian Jack in the 3rd Congressional District race.

After the Republican Primary in May, Jack was endorsed by Mike Crane and Phillip Singleton, both GRA members who have been previously endorsed by the GRA as legislators for their exceptional performance. Jack has also worked previously on staff for former President Donald Trump.

Jack is expected to be a more conservative Congressman than the retiring incumbent from the district, Drew Ferguson.

In other news, GRA member Gregory Howard from Gwinnett won his runoff for the nomination in the 7th District State Senate race. He’ll now face the Democrat incumbent State Senator in a district that leans Democrat.

In Pike County, former GRA-endorsed State Rep. Ken Pullin (with an 84%-88% “A” legislative score) won his runoff for county commission, defeating the incumbent:

This win for Pullin was seen as vindication after he was pressured to abandon his State House seat when the late former Speaker David Ralston worked to gerrymander his old House district during redistricting to ensure he would not be re-elected, just as he had done to Phillip Singleton in his former State House seat.

Vanita Hullander

Also it was noteworthy that two of the incumbent Catoosa County Commission candidates who the Catoosa GOP did not qualify as Republicans in the primary lost their Republican primary runoff elections last night. Both incumbent County Commission Chairman Larry Black and incumbent County Commissioner for District 3 Vanita Hullander went down to defeat in their races. Hullander was the commissioner who endorsed a Democrat in a local race and made the absurd retort to an angry local citizen at a commission meeting, when he was complaining about how local tax dollars were being spent by the commission, that “you act like we’re spending your money personal!” The citizen replied to her, “That is our money!”

Hullander and Black took legal action in March to get a local judge to force them on the ballot. That has led to two cases on appeal in both state and federal court where we trust this violation of the 1st Amendment’s “freedom of association” clause will eventually be overturned.

Jason Frazier Appointed Chairman of the New GRA Election Integrity Action Group

Jason Frazier Appointed Chairman of the New GRA Election Integrity Action Group

Atlanta, GA — Today GRA President Nathaniel Darnell appointed Fulton County activist and GRA member Jason Frazier as the Chairman of the newly-created GRA Election Integrity Action Group.

Frazier has exposed issues like this abandoned house in Fulton County that had 20 voters registered as living there. 

Since the 2020 election, Frazier has successfully challenged and removed thousands of illegitimate registrations in Fulton County. He has testified before the State Senate, influencing election integrity legislation. Last year, he was nominated to the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections, although the Democrat-controlled Board refused to seat him. He’s developed analytical models to identify invalid registrations and collaborated with software developers to improve registration verification.

Now Frazier is looking to take the method state-wide that he has used to successfully uncover local problems in the Fulton voter rolls. GRA members from across the state will be coordinating with him to challenge voter registrations in Georgia by people who are also registered in other states, among other things.

After joining the GRA, Frazier reached out to GRA Chairman Alex Johnson a few weeks ago about his proposed idea to build a state-wide team from the GRA for this purpose. In a recent poll of our membership, many members responded with an eagerness to join the effort.

Send us a message if you would like to be a part of this significant initiative.

GRA Racking Up the Wins in the 2024 GA Republican Primary!

GRA Racking Up the Wins in the 2024 GA Republican Primary!

GRA-endorsed candidates pulled off some impressive victories Tuesday night sure to rattle some of the RINO Establishment’s cages. Very notably, GRA-endorsed candidate Noelle Kahaian defeated incumbent State Rep. Lauren Daniel (R-Locust Grove) in the House District 81 race! Daniel had earned a legislative vote score last year of 34% “F.” Noelle beat Lauren in the newly redistricted House seat by a margin of 52.78% to 47.22% when all the precincts were counted.

The GRA-PAC was proud to sponsor Kahaian’s race early.

“RINO Wrangler” State Senator Colton Moore (R-Dade) also made short work of his primary challenger in his race for re-election last night. Now that the Republican voters in the district have voted so overwhelmingly (70.44% to 29.56%) to re-nominate Moore as the Republican Senator for the district, it will be interesting to see if the State Senate Republican Caucus re-admits him.

Troy Cook

In another upset against an incumbent, GRA Middle GA chapter President Troy Cook stomped on Crawford County Commissioner for District 2 Jackie McCowan, earning nearly four times as many votes as the out-going incumbent! Troy has also served as the Crawford County GOP Chairman.

GRA-endorsed candidate Ken Pullin also got one morevote than the incumbent and made it into a runoff for Pike County Commission. The GRA formerly endorsed Pullin for State House in 2018 and helped get him elected to that office. He had an “A” legislative voting score.

Pullin served for one term in the State House before the late Speaker David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge) ensured his district was gerrymandered during redistricting in a way that was likely to decrease his chances of re-election.

GRA endorsed candidates did particularly well in most local races. Here is a list of our most recent tally of GRA-endorsed candidates who won their primary elections last night:

• Congressional District 9: Andrew Clyde (incumbent) (PRIMARY WINNER!)
• State Senate District 53: Colton Moore (Catoosa, Walker, & Dade area)(incumbent) (PRIMARY WINNER!)
• State Senate District 55: Mary Benefield (DeKalb County) (PRIMARY WINNER!)
• State House District 20: Charlice Byrd (Cherokee County)(incumbent) (PRIMARY WINNER!)
• State House District 35: Gary Chaffee (Cobb County near KSU) (PRIMARY WINNER!)
• State House District 81: Noelle Kahaian (McDonough & Griffin) (PRIMARY WINNER!)
• State House District 83: Catherine Bernard (DeKalb County) (PRIMARY WINNER!)
• Miller County Commissioner, District 3: Keith Bowen (PRIMARY WINNER!)
• Murray County School Board District 3: Tony Abernathy (PRIMARY WINNER!)
• Pike County Board of Commissioners: Ken Pullin (PRIMARY RUNOFF)
• Whitfield County Commission Sheriff: Darren Pierce (PRIMARY WINNER!)
• Whitfield County Coroner: Clyde McDaniel (PRIMARY WINNER!)
• Cherokee Chief Magistrate: Trey Goodwin (PRIMARY WINNER!)
• Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney: Keith Higgins (PRIMARY WINNER!)

Judicial Candidates Pinson & Davis Win!

Although judicial races are technically considered “non-partisan,” we made a point of highlighting two key judicial races in Georgia this week that were successful. State Supreme Court Justice Andrew Pinson is a Republican jurist who beat long-time Democrat John Barrow with 54.95% of the vote!

Meanwhile,  Jeff Davis is a Republican jurist who won his election to Court of Appeals with 57.02% of the vote against Tabitha Ponder.

We congratulate Justice Pinson and Judge Davis on their election victories and pray that they will do their utmost in our climate of judicial “law-fare” to oppose corruption and uphold justice in our state, properly applying our constitutional laws to protect all citizens from harm.

Catoosa GOP Finally Gets Heard In Federal Court

Catoosa GOP Finally Gets Heard In Federal Court

Rome, GA — Wednesday, federal Judge Billy Ray heard arguments from the Catoosa GOP that the Catoosa Board of Elections acted unlawfully when they followed state Superior Court Judge Don W. Thompson‘s order to violate the Catoosa GOP’s 1st Amendment protected right to freedom of association by forcing four known RINO candidates onto the Republican primary ballot. These candidates have a record of implementing democrat policies (like raising taxes, prohibiting property rights, etc.) and opposing basic tenants of the Republican Party platform. For the first time, attorneys for the Catoosa GOP were allowed to present their legal arguments in the courtroom since Judge Thompson had precluded any oral arguments on the merits of the Catoosa GOP’s position in his courtroom in Ringgold.

At issue is whether private organizations (such as political parties, businesses, clubs, or churches) have the right to freely associate or disassociate with someone who does not share the standards of that private organization. Recent SCOTUS precedent on that question says political parties do have that right, according to the Catoosa GOP.

Federal Judge Billy Ray

Unlike the courtroom in Ringgold, the federal courtroom in Rome hearing this case was not covered in police officers or following unusual measures in an effort to intimidate. Indeed, the federal courtroom did not appear to have a single officer in the room. Federal Judge Ray adopted a very inquisitive posture, asking numerous questions of attorneys, coming at the controversy from many angles, and musing aloud regarding the implications of different legal positions.

Judge Ray mentioned in the proceedings that the threats of jail time and exorbitant $1,000 per hour fines against the Catoosa GOP Executive Committee members that were imposed by Judge Don W. Thompson should, it seemed to him, no longer apply since that was from a civil case and the plaintiffs have already obtained their desired remedy. Time will tell if other judges in on-going proceedings agree with Judge Ray on that point.

The crux of this case is really questioning the very essence of a political party,” said GRA NFRA Director Abigail Darnell. “If a political party plays nothing more than a superficial administrative role, rubber stamping every candidate with no regard to their beliefs or their record on public policy, then why have a political party at all?”

Some of the supporters of the Catoosa GOP who came to the Rome courtroom meet for lunch after the federal hearing Wednesday.

Attorneys Alex Johnson and David Oles (also the 11th Congressional District Chairman) were on hand to represent the Catoosa GOP, and Catoosa County government attorney Christopher Harris represented the Catoosa Board of Elections members. Harris also represents the county commissioners — three of which are also among the four rejected candidates — which, as an employee of the county, paid by those commissioners, appears to be a conflict of interest.

Harris made the argument that the Catoosa GOP procedures for vetting and qualifying candidates were “inconsistent” with the GA GOP state party rules. Attorney Alex Johnson pointed out that there is no “inconsistency” because the GA GOP State Party rules do not address county processes on this point, and certainly do not preclude county party’s vetting and refusing to qualify candidates who don’t demonstrate a track record of faithfulness to Republican Party platform principles. The Catoosa GOP rules, including the new accountability measures and candidate vetting process, were unanimously approved by the delegates at the Catoosa GOP County Convention after the rejected candidates filed their lawsuit.

Harris also argued that such an Accountability Rule was rejected by the GA GOP State Convention last year. When Judge Billy Ray asked attorney Alex Johnson about that event, Johnson pointed out that he was actually the delegate at the convention who had submitted the proposed Accountability Rule last year, and that that proposed Accountability Rule had nothing to do with county party organizations. He also pointed out that the rule was never actually allowed to be voted on at the convention since it was blocked in committee and the convention chairman did not allow the proposal to be brought up from the floor.

Far-left newspaper Atlanta Journal Constitution reporter Greg Bluestein was in the federal courtroom observing and incorrectly reported yesterday that Johnson’s proposed Accountability Rule would have given the GA GOP the power to reject candidates to state office. In actuality, the GA GOP already possesses the constitutional authority to reject candidates under the freedom of association — and has recently done so for the presidential ballot last year as well as for former K.K.K. clansman David Dukes when he attempted to run for president as a Republican in 1992. The proposed Accountability Rule from last year would have only provided a process for the delegates at a state convention to vote on potentially blocking a state candidate from running for future office as a Republican instead of that authority being seen as exclusively the domain of the GA GOP 28-person Executive Committee or the 180-person State Committee. According to the Call of the GA GOP, the state convention has a capacity this year of 2,641 delegates.

In Star Wars, Chancellor Palpatine violates the freedom of association of the Jedi Council by forcing them to allow Anakin Skywalker to have a seat on the council. Later Palpatine would dissolve the Republic, declaring himself Emperor.

Federal Judge Ray allowed Johnson to chronicle how Judge Don W. Thompson had called an ex parte hearing with little notice to the attorneys on the Tuesday morning the week of candidate qualifying, and did not allow attorneys to present oral arguments on the First Amendment issue of right of association. Johnson delved deeply into the extensive case law from the United States Supreme Court which repeatedly applies that legal right specifically to political parties.

Judge Ray asked Johnson about the interplay between state law specifying the procedure for how candidates are qualified and the U.S. Constitution in the 1st Amendment. Attorneys for the four RINO candidates have argued that the state law does not specify that political parties have any discretion over qualifying candidates who appear and follow the process. Johnson argued that the state law must be seen to be in conformity with the First Amendment and not in conflict with it. If somehow the state law did prohibit freedom of association, Johnson pressed, the 1st Amendment from the U.S. Constitution must have supremacy over state law. “That’s what the Civil Rights movement was all about,” Johnson said.

The Catoosa GOP’s county committee voted unanimously to adopt the procedures in their organization’s rules for vetting and qualifying candidates. The members of that committee are elected every two years by the local activists in Catoosa County, and serve as the representatives of the Republican voters in that county. They are responsible for guarding the interests of the local Republican Party, says the Catoosa GOP, including upholding minimum standards of quality that Republican voters can rely on when they go to vote in the primaries. Approving a candidate for qualifying as a Republican operates as a stamp of approval that voters, who cannot often pay close attention to local government operations, can rely.

Catoosa GOP’s Muzzled Ballot Questions

The hearing on Wednesday also addressed ballot questions the Catoosa GOP had submitted to the Catoosa Board of Elections to be included on the Catoosa Republican Primary ballot. Some of those questions inquired about voters’ awareness of the candidate qualifying controversy, and awareness of public votes of the County Commission and were not an example of defamation. County attorney Harris said that the Secretary of State’s office had told the local BOE to refuse to use the questions because, they argued, they were illegally “electioneering.” However, Harris admitted “in candor to the court” that the Secretary of State’s office called him and said they are no longer claiming the ballot questions are “electioneering” and that the decision rested solely with the Catoosa Elections Board. Judge Ray pointed out through his questions that the statute prohibiting “electioneering” says no “person” shall engage in that activity, and neither a printed ballot nor a voting machine are a legal person under that statute. He also said that the statute relating to qualifying questions from political parties says they “shall” be posted and do not give the Board of Elections much discretion on whether to post questions submitted or not.

“This is yet another atrocious example of bias and discrimination against the Catoosa GOP,” said Abigail Darnell. “If this illegal action is allowed to stand, it will demoralize GOP activists and discourage party participation across the state. I mean, why would I want to give unpaid volunteer hours to an organization just to be strong-armed by the government? Party activists shouldn’t be forced to conform to a government-approved message or government-forced association.”

Time is Ticking

The ballots will soon be finalized for the upcoming primary election in May.

Federal Judge Billy Ray pointed out that he has particular experience in the subject matter of the case since he was formerly a Republican State Senator from northeast Georgia from 1996 to 2002, so he was familiar with candidate qualifying procedures, and he had also formerly been a Gwinnett County GOP officer responsible for qualifying candidates. In 2002, Ray was appointed to the state superior court by out-going Democrat Governor Roy Barnes. Ten years later he was appointed by Republican Governor Nathan Deal to the Georgia Court of Appeals. In 2018, he was appointed by former President Donald Trump to the federal District Court for Northern Georgia.

Judge Ray cautioned at the conclusion of the proceeding that he would not be making any promises on how quickly he would decide on this case. He made it clear he did not want to be rushed, even though he was mindful that the ballots would soon be printed for the Catoosa Republican primary election in May. He also pointed out that even if the four candidates do end up on the ballot, the Catoosa GOP could still pursue monetary damages.