Georgia election board settles ethics lawsuit over private emails for $50,000

The Georgia state election board has settled a lawsuit filed by a watchdog organization over access to board members’ emails for $50,000 and an agreement to conduct future business without using private email.

The settlement requires the Republican-controlled board, which continues to push for additional investigation into the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia, to instruct its members to use official email accounts, and “not to use personal email accounts, text messaging, or messaging through other applications for that purpose”.

American Oversight launched the suit in October 2024 after a request through the Georgia Open Records Act revealed that board member Janice Johnston had been using her private Gmail account to conduct board business, while refusing to turn over those emails after the request.

At the time, American Oversight also sent a formal letter to Georgia’s’ inspector general and attorney general and other state officials urging an investigation into the violations of Georgia’s open records and open meetings laws. The suit became a point of contention with the Republican-dominated board when the state attorney general, Chris Carr, said his office would not defend the board against the suit, as is customary when state agencies face legal action.

The settlement specifically calls out “ephemeral messaging applications”, a reference to Snapchat, Signal and other applications with disappearing-message functions.

“They shall ensure those messages are contemporaneously retained until such messages are captured and forwarded to their respective government email account, and that Members are instructed that any such messages must be produced in response to any [Open Records Act] request that encompasses such messages,” the settlement states.

Chioma Chukwu, executive director of American Oversight, said in a statement that the settlement makes it clear that election officials must comply with transparency requirements.

“When officials who continue to challenge the results of the 2020 election are put in charge of ensuring ‘fair, legal and orderly elections’ in Georgia – but do so behind closed doors – the integrity of our elections is at risk,” she said. “No Georgian should have to question whether they’ll be disenfranchised simply because those administering elections disagree with their views.”

After the suit was filed, partisan supporters of Johnston began contributing to an account for her legal fees, raising almost $30,000. Voting rights watchdogs who have been monitoring board activity questioned the propriety of someone with action before the board – voting rights activist and Georgia Republican board member Salleigh Grubbs, whose proposal to indemnify the state elections board is up for deliberation – establishing a donation fund for a board member. Critics also described the donations – particularly one anonymous $10,000 donation – as a potential violation of state ethics laws.

The suit resolves the complaint without an admission of liability under the law from the board or Johnston.

American Oversight is continuing to pursue a related case alleging the Georgia election board violated the Georgia Open Meetings Act.