ATLANTA — A list of Georgia lawmakers is asking the United States justice department to investigate a 2021 election security breach in south Georgia’s Coffee County.
Although the former election director there is charged in the Fulton County RICO case, no local or federal charges have surfaced.
Surveillance video told the story. On Jan. 7, 2021, Coffee County election officials welcomed, into the secure area of the county election office, people tied with then president Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election.
They stayed for hours, and one boasted afterward they had scanned election software – which tech experts warned could be used to undermine the security of future elections.
Yet no local prosecutor ever filed charges.
"It’s been what. three years now?" asked state Rep. Shea Roberts (D-Sandy Springs) Tuesday. "And we don’t seem to be worried about whether people are stealing our elections software."
Roberts is among the Democratic lawmakers who have written the U.S. Department of Justice requesting DOJ and the FBI investigate the case. Others are Rep. Billy Mitchell (D-Stone Mountain), Rep. Sam Park (D-Lilburn), Rep. Sandra Scott (D-Rex), Rep. Park Cannon (D-Atlanta), Rep. Sheila Jones (D-Atlanta), Rep. Marvin Lim (D-Norcross) and Rep. Becky Evans (D-Atlanta).
Although the Georgia Bureau of Investigation opened a case file, the lawmakers’ letter describes it as “an embarrassingly inferior investigation.”
A GBI spokeswoman said the agency was "unable to comment on this legal matter since the case is still open." It announced several months ago that the file had been turned over to Attorney General Chris Carr.
In 2022, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger told us he anticipated "the people will be prosecuted for that, is my hope."
But the only entity prosecuting the Coffee County case is Fulton County – where a Coffee County Republican leader, Cathy Latham, and former election director Misty Hampton are both part of the RICO case that includes former President Trump.
Roberts said local prosecutors in Coffee County should have seized the case.
"I don’t understand why someone three hundred miles away is more interested in making sure our elections are secure and prosecuting a crime in Coffee County," Roberts said.
The Coffee County election office is about 180 miles from the Fulton County courthouse.