Top Georgia election officials clash over Trump-fueled conspiracy theories

Brynn Anderson/AP/FILE

On his nationwide campaign swing for Republicans, President Donald Trump traveled to Dalton , the self-proclaimed “Carpet Capital of the World,” last week and revived a familiar falsehood: that Georgia’s past elections were rigged.

In the rural manufacturing hub, democracy was humming. More than 900 people streamed through the Whitfield County courthouse — far and away the county’s busiest day in the first week of early voting. And in this deep-red part of northwest Georgia, the official overseeing those ballots had a sharply different message.

Whitfield County Election Director Shaynee Bryson told CNN that Georgia elections are secure, calling Trump’s claims “discouraging.”

“We do try to overlook it because we know the truth,” Bryson said. “And the majority of our voters know the truth.”

Election distrust has taken root here since 2020, as it has in many parts of red-leaning America. Bryson, who identifies with neither party, has spent election after election batting down false claims and conspiracy theories.

“I’ll say, ‘You know I agree with a lot of points that you agree on as well. Why would I ever rig it to be a different way for another candidate to win?’” she said.

Bryson fears election tensions are boiling up again. Her staff has started opening mail with gloves and masks after letters containing suspicious white substances arrived this month at election and political offices across the country, including in Georgia.

“I worry about Election Day workers at times,” Bryson said, “That’s what keeps me up at night. What if? What if?”

Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

Few states carry more political scar tissue from 2020 than Georgia. Trump and his allies made it a centerpiece of their effort to challenge — and overturn — his defeat. That campaign included Trump’s infamous call urging Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to reverse the result.

Since then, the Trump-aligned Georgia State Election Board has become a more powerful and combative force in an “election integrity” campaign. It has pushed tighter voting rules while raising doubts about voting systems and election results.

The board has also repeatedly attacked Raffensperger, portraying him as either incapable of running Georgia’s elections or unwilling to do so honestly.

Late last month, the board sent a letter to the Justice Department, asking the Trump administration for “intervention” in Georgia’s elections over its voting systems and machines. The request has fueled fears that Trump — who has sought greater federal control over elections — could take aggressive steps affecting the midterms in one of the country’s most closely watched battlegrounds.

Trump and his allies’ actions denying Georgia’s 2020 results became a central piece of racketeering charges against him and over a dozen of his supporters. After years of investigations, grand juries, court maneuverings, and a wild Fulton County mug shot, the case eventually crumbled before moving ahead or going to trial due to a botched prosecution.

The FBI served a search warrant to the Fulton County election warehouse outside Atlanta in January, taking roughly 700 boxes of election material to probe alleged vote fraud in the 2020 presidential election. The effort, fueled in part by 2020 election skeptics, drew sharp criticism from Raffensperger and other officials from both parties.

“Worst possible scenario: Election Day, before the votes are counted, they come in, confiscate the ballots, take them off,” Fulton County Chairman Robb Pitts told CNN. “What I’ve learned with this administration, the impossible is always possible. We’re prepared though.”

There are also concerns — even in Republican-leaning areas — about possible federal action in the election. In Cherokee County, the director of elections made a supplemental presentation for poll workers on what to do if federal agents come to polling locations.

After the FBI raided an election hub in Georgia in January, there is now increasing concern that the Trump administration could interfere with the midterm election. CNN’s Gabe Cohen talks with Fulton County Chairman Robb Pitts.

On September 30, Georgia State Election Board Executive Director James Mills sent a formal request to federal officials seeking Justice Department involvement in a series of election-related concerns.

The five-page letter, addressed to US Attorney General Todd Blanche, Civil Rights Division chief Harmeet Dhillon and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, asked federal authorities to investigate Georgia’s voting system, review software updates for Dominion voting equipment, examine alleged security and ballot-secrecy vulnerabilities and preserve election records under federal supervision.

Mills did not respond to CNN’s questions or request for comment about the letter.

This latest chapter of political fallout from 2020 is part of a yearslong struggle between Georgia’s five-member State Election Board, which writes election rules and investigates alleged violations, and Raffensperger, whose office has been tasked with administering elections statewide since January 2019.

Republican Janelle King, who joined the board in 2024, argues Georgia’s voting system remains out of compliance with state law. She points to concerns that voters cannot independently verify QR codes printed on ballots and raises broader questions about ballot security and secrecy.

“The system itself has proven that there are vulnerabilities, whether they were exploited or not, that’s obviously up for debate,” King told CNN.

She argues that the board’s letter to the Department of Justice is justified and that its intervention is badly needed.

“It’s basically letting the secretary of state know that as the State Election Board, we are aware that Georgia’s elections are not in compliance,” King told CNN. “So we want you to fix this. And the fact that you’re not listening to us, you’re not listening to the people, maybe you will listen to the DOJ.”

King said she looks forward to working with “new blood” in the next secretary of state, regardless of their party affiliation, now that Raffensperger’s second four-year term is coming to an end.

But other current and former officials are eager to defend the state’s efforts.

“It’s obviously safe to vote in Georgia; our systems are secure,” said Gabe Sterling, who recently left his position as Georgia’s top voting manager, where he had been Raffensperger’s right-hand man since 2019.

“We have fantastic professionals who run county offices, and that’s where the rubber meets the road, Sterling told CNN.

The longtime Republican, who spent years as the chief operating officer in the secretary of state’s office and is now a senior fellow with Secure Democracy USA, said he has “very few actual real concerns” that Georgia’s voting systems could be tampered with, but does worry about potential online meddling from outside bad actors.

“The Russians, the Iranians, the Chinese continue to do those same things in social media, emails, websites to try to exacerbate difficulties and exacerbate belief and outcomes,” he said.

Sterling witnessed firsthand that dangerous rhetoric can lead to threats made to election officials, and said he’s thankful that the state election board Republican members “have no real power” and have been smacked down by the Georgia Supreme Court as well as fined for violating open records acts.

“They are just bad actors,” Sterling stressed, adding that the executive director “is now just going completely off the rails.”

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Secretary of state officials and the board’s Democratic member echo Sterling, saying the latest effort is less about election security than sowing doubt about election results.

“We have the most accurate election in the entire country,” Raffensperger told CNN in an interview in his office.

He strongly pushed back on the claims in the election board letter, saying that it “wasn’t supported by the facts.”

“We’re going to make sure that we have free, fair, and fast elections,” Raffensperger said, “the voters trust the process that we have here in Georgia.”

Raffensperger, who lost the Republican primary for Georgia governor this year and will leave office in January, was not concerned about the possibility of federal interference and noted that his office has been a “great partner” to the Department of Justice.

Democratic board member Sara Tindall Ghazal told CNN that the board has become “a platform for wild conspiracy theorists.”

Ghazal called Mills’ letter a “predictable bad-faith effort to undermine confidence in our election and lay the groundwork to contest election results they do not like.”

Last May, the election board gave Trump’s Justice Department a blueprint for obtaining a criminal search warrant for its Fulton County raid.

The Justice Department, using a grand jury, also demanded details about thousands of election workers who assisted Fulton County in the 2020 vote-counting. Those investigations are ongoing.

In a recent interview on CBS’ “60 Minutes,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon defended the Trump administration’s election related investigation.

Dhillon said that “absent some shocking contingency that is unexpected, there should be no interruption in the usual course of counting and certifying the results in the states.”

Erik S. Lesser/AFP via Getty Images

At the center of the dispute is a fundamental question that is likely to persist beyond November: How much authority should the State Election Board wield compared with the independently elected secretary of state? And will DOJ try to insert itself?

The board has five voting members: a chairman appointed by the governor; one member appointed by the state Senate; one member appointed by the state House; and two members selected by state political parties, one Democrat and one Republican.

Since Mills was appointed to the executive director job in 2025, he has repeatedly clashed with the board’s chairman, John Fervier.

Fervier, a vice president of risk management at Waffle House, was appointed by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in 2024, but often finds himself voting alongside Ghazal, the board’s lone Democrat.

The latest controversy comes as Georgia voters prepare to elect a new secretary of state, who will inherit responsibility for managing elections and navigating the increasingly tense relationship with the election board.

Democrat Penny Brown Reynolds, a former Fulton County judge who also served in a federal civil rights role during the Biden administration, says the state’s elections have become a target of politically motivated attacks.

“This is the state of Congressman John Lewis and Martin Luther King Jr. and so many of our civil rights leaders who marched and protested and died for the right to vote,” Reynolds told CNN. She said many of the current disputes are driven by “fear tactics” that are “built on fear and confusion.”

Her Republican opponent, state Rep. Tim Fleming, is a former deputy secretary of state and chief of staff to Kemp. Fleming has campaigned heavily on his experience managing state government operations and argues he is best positioned to succeed Raffensperger. Fleming did not respond to CNN’s requests for an interview.

The Republican has championed voter ID requirements, hand-marked paper ballots and other election-integrity measures.

Reynolds said she supports continuing Georgia’s use of voting machines while also exploring broader use of hand-marked paper ballots. If elected, she pledged to defend voting rights against what she describes as ongoing efforts to undermine public confidence in elections.

“What Raffensperger did in standing up with regard to that telephone call and standing up to the unfounded claims that somehow the election was not free, fair, and secure, and legal … because he would not do the bidding of his Republican colleagues, they retaliated,” Reynolds told CNN.

And if she wins her race, “I’ll have my hands full,” she said.

布林·安德森/美联社/档案照片

上周，唐纳德·特朗普总统在为共和党进行全国竞选活动期间，前往自诩为“世界地毯之都”的道尔顿，重提了一个熟悉的谎言：佐治亚州过去的选举被操纵了。

在这个乡村制造业中心，民主进程蓬勃发展。超过900人涌入惠特菲尔德县法院——这是该县提前投票第一周以来最繁忙的一天。然而，在这个佐治亚州西北部的传统共和党地区，负责监督投票的官员却传达了截然不同的信息。

惠特菲尔德县选举主任谢妮·布莱森告诉 CNN，佐治亚州的选举是安全的，称特朗普的说法“令人沮丧”。

“我们尽量不去理会它，因为我们知道真相，”布莱森说。“而且我们的大多数选民也知道真相。”

自2020年以来，选举不信任感在这里扎根，就像在美国许多倾向共和党的地区一样。布莱森不属于任何党派，他一次又一次地在选举中驳斥虚假指控和阴谋论。

“我会说，‘你知道，我也同意你的很多观点。我为什么要操纵选举，让其他候选人以不同的方式获胜呢？’”她说。

布莱森担心选举紧张局势再次升级。本月，包括佐治亚州在内的全国各地选举办公室和政治办公室都收到了含有可疑白色物质的信件，此后她的工作人员开始戴上手套和口罩拆封邮件。

“我有时会担心选举日的工作人员，”布莱森说，“这让我夜不能寐。万一呢？万一呢？”

Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

很少有哪个州像佐治亚州那样，在2020年留下如此深重的政治伤痕。特朗普及其盟友将佐治亚州作为挑战并推翻其败选结果的核心战场。这场运动中就包括特朗普臭名昭著的电话，他敦促共和党籍州务卿布拉德·拉芬斯珀格“找到”足够的选票来扭转选举结果。

此后，与特朗普结盟的佐治亚州选举委员会在“选举诚信”运动中扮演了更加强大和强硬的角色。该委员会一方面推动制定更严格的投票规则，另一方面又对投票系统和选举结果提出质疑。

该委员会还多次攻击拉芬斯珀格，称他要么没有能力管理佐治亚州的选举，要么不愿意诚实地管理选举。

上月底，选举委员会致函司法部，要求特朗普政府“干预”佐治亚州的选举，原因是该州的投票系统和机器存在问题。这一请求加剧了人们的担忧，即特朗普——他一直寻求加强联邦政府对选举的控制——可能会采取激进措施，影响到这个全国最受关注的摇摆州之一的中期选举。

特朗普及其盟友否认佐治亚州2020年大选结果的行为，成为针对他及其十几名支持者的敲诈勒索指控的核心内容。经过多年的调查、大陪审团审议、法庭博弈，以及一张来自富尔顿县的疑似嫌犯照片，由于检方办案不力，此案最终在进入审判阶段前便宣告失败。

今年1月，联邦调查局对亚特兰大郊外的富尔顿县选举仓库执行了搜查令，带走了约700箱选举材料，以调查2020年总统选举中涉嫌的舞弊行为。此次行动部分是由对2020年选举持怀疑态度的人士推动的，但遭到了拉芬斯珀格以及两党其他官员的强烈批评。

“最糟糕的情况是：选举日当天，在计票之前，他们会闯进来，没收选票，把它们取走，”富尔顿县主席罗布·皮茨告诉CNN。“我从这届政府身上学到的是，不可能的事情总是有可能发生的。不过，我们已经做好了准备。”

即使在共和党倾向明显的地区，人们也担心联邦政府可能干预选举。在切罗基县，选举主任为投票站工作人员做了补充讲解，说明如果联邦特工来到投票站应该如何应对。

今年1月，联邦调查局突袭了佐治亚州的一个选举中心，此后人们越来越担心特朗普政府可能会干预中期选举。CNN记者加布·科恩采访了富尔顿县主席罗布·皮茨。

9月30日，佐治亚州选举委员会执行主任詹姆斯·米尔斯向联邦官员发出正式请求，寻求司法部介入一系列与选举相关的问题。

这封长达五页的信函致美国司法部长托德·布兰奇、民权司司长哈米特·迪伦和国土安全部长马克韦恩·穆林，要求联邦当局调查佐治亚州的投票系统，审查 Dominion 投票设备的软件更新，调查所谓的安全和选票保密漏洞，并在联邦监督下保存选举记录。

米尔斯没有回应 CNN 关于这封信的提问或置评请求。

2020 年政治余波的最新篇章，是佐治亚州五人组成的州选举委员会（负责制定选举规则和调查涉嫌违规行为）与拉芬斯珀格（其办公室自 2019 年 1 月起负责管理全州选举）之间长达数年的斗争的一部分。

共和党人珍妮尔·金（Janelle King）将于2024年加入选举委员会，她认为佐治亚州的投票系统仍然不符合州法律。她指出，选民无法独立验证选票上印制的二维码，并就选票安全性和保密性提出了更广泛的质疑。

“该系统本身已经证明存在漏洞，至于这些漏洞是否被利用，这显然还有待商榷，”金告诉 CNN。

她认为，委员会致函司法部是合理的，而且司法部的介入非常必要。

“我们基本上是在告诉州务卿，作为州选举委员会，我们已经意识到佐治亚州的选举不符合规定，”金告诉CNN。“所以我们希望你们解决这个问题。你们不听我们的，不听人民的，或许你们会听听司法部的意见。”

金表示，随着拉芬斯珀格的第二个四年任期即将结束，她期待与下一任国务卿“新鲜血液”合作，无论其党派归属如何。

但其他现任和前任官员都急于捍卫该州的努力。

“在佐治亚州投票显然是安全的；我们的系统是安全的，”加布·斯特林说道。他最近卸任了佐治亚州最高投票管理者的职务，自 2019 年以来，他一直是拉芬斯珀格的得力助手。

斯特林告诉 CNN：“我们拥有非常优秀的专业人士来管理县级办公室，而这才是真正发挥作用的地方。”

这位长期担任共和党职务的人士曾在州务卿办公室担任首席运营官多年，现在是美国安全民主组织的资深研究员。他表示，他对佐治亚州的投票系统可能被篡改“几乎没有真正的担忧”，但他确实担心外部不良行为者可能会进行网络干预。

他说：“俄罗斯人、伊朗人、中国人继续在社交媒体、电子邮件、网站上做同样的事情，试图加剧困难，加剧人们的担忧和后果。”

斯特林亲眼目睹了危险的言论会导致对选举官员的威胁，他说他很庆幸州选举委员会的共和党成员“没有真正的权力”，并且已经受到佐治亚州最高法院的严厉批评，还因违反公开记录法而被罚款。

“他们只是些不称职的家伙，”斯特林强调说，并补充道，执行董事“现在已经完全失控了”。

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

州务卿官员和选举委员会的民主党成员都赞同斯特林的说法，称最新的举措与其说是为了选举安全，不如说是为了散布对选举结果的怀疑。

“我们拥有全国最准确的选举结果，”拉芬斯珀格在办公室接受 CNN 采访时表示。

他强烈反驳了选举委员会信中的说法，称其“没有事实依据”。

拉芬斯珀格说：“我们将确保选举自由、公正、迅速，选民信任我们在佐治亚州的选举程序。”

拉芬斯珀格今年在佐治亚州州长共和党初选中落败，将于明年一月卸任。他并不担心联邦政府的干预，并指出他的办公室一直是司法部的“好伙伴”。

民主党董事会成员萨拉·廷德尔·加扎尔告诉 CNN，该董事会已经变成了“疯狂阴谋论者的平台”。

加扎尔称米尔斯的信是“意料之中的恶意之举，旨在破坏人们对我们选举的信心，并为他们不喜欢的选举结果的质疑奠定基础”。

去年五月，选举委员会向特朗普的司法部提供了一份蓝图，用于获取在富尔顿县进行突袭的刑事搜查令。

司法部通过大陪审团，还要求提供数千名协助富尔顿县进行2020年计票工作的选举工作人员的详细信息。这些调查仍在进行中。

在最近接受哥伦比亚广播公司“60分钟”节目采访时，助理司法部长哈米特·迪伦为特朗普政府与选举相关的调查进行了辩护。

迪伦表示，“除非发生一些意想不到的惊人意外，否则各州的计票和结果认证工作应该不会受到干扰。”

Erik S. Lesser/AFP via Getty Images

这场争议的核心是一个可能持续到11月之后的根本问题：州选举委员会与独立选举产生的州务卿相比，应该拥有多大的权力？司法部是否会试图介入？

董事会由五名投票成员组成：一名由州长任命的主席；一名由州参议院任命的成员；一名由州众议院任命的成员；以及两名由州政党选出的成员，一名民主党人和一名共和党人。

自米尔斯于 2025 年被任命为执行董事以来，他与董事会主席约翰·费维尔多次发生冲突。

费维尔是华夫饼屋的风险管理副总裁，于 2024 年被共和党州长布莱恩·坎普任命，但他经常发现自己与董事会中唯一的民主党人加扎尔一起投票。

最新争议发生之际，佐治亚州选民正准备选举一位新的州务卿，这位州务卿将负责管理选举，并处理与选举委员会之间日益紧张的关系。

民主党人佩妮·布朗·雷诺兹曾任富尔顿县法官，并在拜登政府时期担任联邦民权职务。她表示，该州的选举已成为出于政治动机的攻击的目标。

“这就是约翰·刘易斯议员、马丁·路德·金以及众多民权领袖的现状，他们曾为争取投票权而游行、抗议，甚至献出了生命，”雷诺兹告诉CNN。她表示，目前许多争端都是由“恐惧策略”驱动的，这些策略“建立在恐惧和混乱之上”。

她的共和党对手、州众议员蒂姆·弗莱明曾任州务卿副手和州长坎普的幕僚长。弗莱明大力宣传其管理州政府运作的经验，并声称自己是接替拉芬斯珀格的最佳人选。弗莱明没有回应CNN的采访请求。

这位共和党人一直倡导选民身份验证要求、手写纸质选票和其他维护选举公正的措施。

雷诺兹表示，她支持佐治亚州继续使用投票机，同时也在探索更广泛地使用手写纸质选票的可能性。她承诺，如果当选，将捍卫投票权，抵制她所说的那些旨在破坏公众对选举信心的持续行径。

雷诺兹告诉 CNN：“拉芬斯珀格在那通电话中挺身而出，反驳了毫无根据的说法，即选举并非自由、公平、安全和合法……因为他没有听从共和党同僚的命令，所以他们对他进行了报复。”

她说，如果她赢得比赛，“我将忙得不可开交”。