WOODSTOCK, Ga. (AP) 鈥� Conservative activists in Georgia and some other states are quietly pushing a way to remove names from the voting rolls without filing a formal legal challenge.
They鈥檙e asking election administrators to use their data to purge voter registrations, which means names could be removed in a less public process than a formal voter challenge. The strategy could mean electors won鈥檛 be summoned in advance to defend their voting rights and the identities of those seeking to purge voters might not be routinely public.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger鈥檚 office insists any living voter stricken from the rolls must be notified. But because Georgia has 159 counties and no formal statewide rules governing these less formal inquiries, it鈥檚 unclear how every county will react. People removed in error could vote a provisional ballot, but local officials might count those votes only in exceptional cases.
The strategy is expanding even as takes effect Monday that could lead to counties removing a larger share of voters using formal voter challenges.
That law already has been met with alarm by Democrats and voting rights advocates. They view the of voter challenges filed since 2020 as part of Georgia鈥檚 long dating back to slavery. Now, as details of below-radar efforts surface, those advocates fear a double-barreled attack on voting.
鈥淭here鈥檚 built-in transparency into the challenge process, and some level of voter protection in that notice requirements and hearings are required,鈥� said state Rep. Saira Draper, an Atlanta Democrat and Joe Biden鈥檚 2020 state director of voter protection. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 sidestep that by just unofficially challenging people and saying it鈥檚 not a challenge because we鈥檙e not calling it a challenge.鈥�
The less-formal approach has worked at least once. In suburban Atlanta鈥檚 Cobb County, the county removed some voters after a man sent inquiries listing 245 potentially dead people.
"All we鈥檙e doing is a free service. Hey, this group of 500 people, or this group of 800 people said they moved. Maybe you should look into it," , a Republican who has formally challenged nearly 10,000 voters in Atlanta's heavily Democratic Fulton County, said during a presentation Friday.
The effort is one prong of a wide-ranging national effort coordinated by Donald Trump allies to take names from rolls.
An Associated Press survey of Georgia's 40 largest counties finds more than 18,000 voters have been challenged in 2023 and 2024, although counties rejected most challenges. Election officials predict challenges will surge under the new law.
Most controversially, that law says officials can use as evidence the U.S. Postal Service's National Change of Address list showing people have moved, although not as the sole reason for removing voters. Opponents slam that list as unreliable.
It鈥檚 unclear how much change the law will bring because the state hasn't issued guidelines to counties on handling challenges.
County officials routinely remove voters who are dead, convicted of felonies, mentally incompetent or no longer living in Georgia, using lists provided by the secretary of state's office.
For people who have moved, federal law says Georgia can only cancel an inactive registration if a voter doesn鈥檛 respond to a mailing and then doesn鈥檛 vote in two following federal general elections. That process takes years.
Activists fueled by Trump's lies that the 2020 election was stolen say state cleanup efforts are woefully inadequate and inaccuracies invite fraud. , a former teacher traveling the country peddling election conspiracy theories, urged Georgians to use software called EagleAI to file challenges this spring.
鈥淵ou have the constitutional right to challenge any other voter in your county," Frank said at Cherokee County Republican headquarters in Woodstock. "In fact, it鈥檚 not merely your right. It鈥檚 your duty to clean the voter rolls.鈥�
Texas-based True the Vote prior to two U.S. Senate runoffs in 2021. Individuals and groups have since challenged many more. Election officials say many challenges are powered by EagleAI. The tool was created by Dr. John 鈥淩ick鈥� Richards Jr., a retired physician and entrepreneur who lives in suburban Augusta's Columbia County.
Richards said in a Wednesday interview that people using his software are citizen volunteers, likening the work of finding ineligible voters to picking up roadside trash.
鈥淣o one is going to be denied the right to vote,鈥� Richards said. 鈥淭hat's a bunch of hooey.鈥�
In online meetings and in-person appearances over the past year, Richards has pushed EagleAI as a sophisticated platform to cleanse dirty voter lists. The Associated Press found the platform is funded and used by supporters of Trump, some of whom worked to overturn the 2020 vote, and entwined with the Republican鈥檚 campaign.
An EagleAI document last year touted the system鈥檚 鈥渦se of AI鈥� and 鈥渕ultitiered algorithms鈥� to cleanse dirty voter lists, but Richards now says there is no artificial intelligence at work. The software instead draws in part from a database of 鈥渟uspicious鈥� voters hand-built by conservative activists, the AP found.
Over past months, an AP reporter joined online meetings publicized among activists before eventually being asked to leave. The AP also obtained additional meeting videos to glean a behind-the-scenes look at how the software is used in states including Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Nevada and Ohio.
鈥淭he left will hate this 鈥� hate this. But we love it,鈥� , a frequent participant, said during one presentation. Mitchell is a GOP election attorney who took part in the call when to 鈥渇ind鈥� more votes in the 2020 election. While for the call, Mitchell was not. Mitchell now is a leader in multiple organizations pushing to purge voting rolls.
Richards called Mitchell鈥檚 affiliations 鈥渋rrelevant.鈥�
鈥淭his has nothing to do whatsoever with the 2020 election 鈥� has nothing to do with the current politicians," he said. 鈥淚t has to do with what鈥檚 right is right.鈥�
Richards' hometown election board in Columbia County agreed in December to buy EagleAI software, the only Georgia government known to have done so.
The county agreed to pay $2,000, saying EagleAI would help maintain its voter list but wouldn't be "the sole means to remove a voter.鈥� But the deal stalled because Richards hasn鈥檛 returned a signed contract. He said elections officials have been too busy thus far to use the contract's 90-day training period.
Eugene Williams, an active voter challenger and EagleAI user, emailed Cobb County Elections Director Tate Fall three lists totaling 245 potentially dead voters in December, January and March, citing obituaries.
鈥淲hen we investigated, most of them had already been removed from the voter roll,鈥� Fall told the AP. 鈥淏ut we have removed voters based on the data that he sent us.鈥�
However, she added no voter would be removed without evidence and a vote by the county election board.
Others are pushing election officials to act using software other than EagleAI. True the Vote says its IV3 tool has highlighted 317,886 鈥渋nvalid voter records.鈥�
Mitchell has repeatedly urged allies to befriend officials, including on a 2023 EagleAI call with Richards.
She suggested asking officials: 鈥�'How can we help you? What are the things that you wish you had that you don鈥檛 have?' And they always say more money and more people. Well, you can say, 鈥榃e have people, and we鈥檙e here to help you.鈥欌��
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Amy reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writers Kate Brumback, Jeff Martin and Sudhin Thanawala in Atlanta, Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, Garance Burke in San Francisco and Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report.
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This story is part of an Associated Press series, 鈥淭he AI Campaign,鈥� that explores the influence of artificial intelligence in the 2024 election cycle.
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Contact AP鈥檚 global investigative team at [email protected] or
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The Associated Press receives financial assistance from the Omidyar Network to support coverage of artificial intelligence and its impact on society. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find the AP鈥檚 for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at .
Jeff Amy And Trenton Daniel, The Associated Press
