The George State Election Board announced last week that they are investigating Sen. Raphael Warnock (D) and the New Georgia Project – which Stacey Abrams' founded – over allegations that the organization dragged their feet to deliver more than 1,200 voter applications to election officials back in 2019.
An investigator for Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) claims the New Georgia Project delivered 1,268 voting applications to Gwinnett County election officials in time. By law, all voting applications have to be turned in to county election offices within a 14-day timeframe.
A private entity shall promptly transmit all completed voter registration applications to the Secretary of State or the appropriate board of registrars within ten days after receiving the application or by the close of registration, whichever period is earlier. If a private entity receives a completed voter registration application fourteen days or less before the close of registration, the private entity should transmit the application to the Secretary of State or the appropriate board of registrars within seventy-two hours of the date of the execution of the application or by midnight on the close of registration, whichever period is earlier.
The State Election Board has referred the case to Attorney General Christopher Carr's (R) office for further investigation and potential charges.
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Warnock is named a part of the investigation because he was the organization's CEO during that time period. The organization, however, said documents are inaccurate, that Warnock was actually the board chairman at the time.
“We have not received any information on this matter from the secretary or any other Georgia official, so we will have no further comment on the investigation,” the New Georgia Project CEO Nse Ufot said.
This isn't the only allegation made against the New Georgia Project. Independent contractors that the organization hired allegedly forged signatures on voter applications and even submitted incomplete forms. The case has been at the attorney general's office for more than three years and no charges have been brought forth.
Both Warnock and the New Georgia Project can face charges and/or fines.