Uncovered: Illegal attack on 364,000 Georgia V**ers
[June 22, 2021]
by Greg Palast for The Thom Hartmann Program and Black Gwinnett News (Georgia)
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Pamela Reardon wants to stop Tamara Horne from v****g.
Reardon of Marietta, Georgia who is running for Vice-Chair of the state Republican Party, has filed a legal challenge to Horne’s v**e — one of 32,379 v**ers in Cobb County Reardon has challenged under a little-noticed provision of Georgia’s new v****g restriction law, SB202.
Reardon, who admits she never met, called nor contacted Horne, accused the African-American of the felony crime of v****g illegally because, Reardon says Horne, like the thousands of others Horne [sic] has challenged, does not live in Cobb County.
Our investigations team reached Horne at her home in Cobb County — and confirmed she is a legal v**er. Nevertheless, Reardon is challenging her v**e. Altogether, Reardon and 87 other operatives have filed challenges under the new law to block a breathtaking 364,000 v**ers from having their b****ts counted.
A review of the list indicates most challenged are v**ers of color. In an on-camera interview (
https://gregpalast.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=33e4ec877eed6a43863a4a92e&id=05dc17ecd3&e=6845967510) with this reporter, Reardon stated that she and her fellow challengers, including the Chairman of the Cobb County Republican Party, were given the unverified hit list by True the V**e, a right-wing group out of Houston, Texas.
Reardon admitted, “I did not speak to the 32,000 people.” In fact, she did not speak to a single one.
Reardon and other True the V**e front-men had originally challenged the counting of these v**ers' b****ts in December, just three weeks before the Georgia Senate run-off race. Many of these v**ers had already mailed in their b****ts and were unaware of the attempt to prevent them from being counted.
Had the challenges succeeded, it is unlikely that the Democratic candidates would have won their US Senate seats — and the US Senate would have remained in Republican control.
** ACLU: This was an abuse
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However, in December, the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia blocked this initial challenge, warning counties that federal law prohibits blockades of v**ers within 90 days of an e******n. Many county e******ns boards also questioned whether one person could reasonably have knowledge of the legal status of thousands of other Georgians.
When informed that True the V**e was resurrecting the challenge under the new Georgia law, Georgia ACLU attorney Rahul Garabadu told us that these mass challenges were dangerous because, "Probable cause requires some individualized suspicion, which means you can't just print out reams and reams of information … and throw them to a county. The statute didn’t contemplate someone coming to town and challenging hundreds of thousands of v**ers. This, in our view, was an abuse of that statute.”
But then, in March, the Georgia Legislature changed the statute to allow an “unlimited” number of challenges.
** Violating the anti-Klan Act
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Attorney Gerald Griggs is known for his successful suits against v**e suppression tactics on behalf of the Atlanta NAACP. When informed of these wild, unsupported challenges of a third of a million v**ers, Griggs said that Reardon and friends could be violating the anti-Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871 which makes intimidation of v**ers a crime.
When Reardon was asked if she was familiar with the Ku Klux Klan law, she replied, “I’m Canadian!” She noted later that she became a v****g US citizen in 1994.
The Palast Investigations team spoke to several of Reardon’s challenged v**ers. Many had stories similar to Horne, who told our investigators that she had temporarily moved because she lost her job due to C***d and had to sell her home. Horne, who had moved within the County and therefore remains a legal v**er, was stunned that her right to v**e is challenged, stating, “This is the first I’m hearing about this. They never called me, never wrote me. I’ve been v****g in Cobb for years. This is just unfair.”
Reardon stated, “I don't know anybody that's moved temporarily because of C***D.”
During an interview filmed at her home, Reardon did not recognize a photo of Horne, claimed she did not recognize Horne’s name. Nor could Reardon recognize another legal v**er, Storm Saul, yet she challenged this v**er's b****t, and thousands of others.
I spoke with Saul at his home and verified that he’d cast his b****t legally. He was offended that Reardon and her co-challengers would accuse him and others of a v****g illegally, a felony crime.
The state’s own investigation of the November p**********l race could not identify a single illegal v**er, let alone hundreds of thousands.
Reardon, a local GOP official, is backed by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene for Vice-Chair of the Georgia Republican Party. (In February, Taylor Greene was stripped of Congressional committee posts over anti-Semitic conspiracy statements.)
** Tossing out v****g officials
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And just in case county officials attempt to reject these renewed mass challenges, another little-noticed clause in SB202 will enforce the v**er purge.
Counties, who previously had final say over v**er rolls and the counting of b****ts, must now accept the challenges. If not, the State E******ns Board can dismiss local v****g officials. The newly constituted state board is, according to the new law, under the control of Governor Brian Kemp and legislative leaders, all Republicans.
The new board just removed v****g rights advocate Helen Butler from the Monroe County E******ns Board. Butler, Executive Director of the Georgia Coalition for the Peoples Agenda, was my co-plaintiff in a successful federal suit against then Sec. of State Brian Kemp.
** Billionaires’ Dark Money
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Behind True the V**e is their major funder, the Bradley Foundation, right-wing billionaires based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the “new Koch Brothers,” who have dedicated $2 billion to right-wing causes, particularly challenges to v**ers’ rights in Wisconsin, Michigan, Texas and now Georgia. Should the True the V**e operation succeed in Georgia, it would set a precedent for other states that still have private citizen challenge laws left over from the Jim Crow era.
True the V**e did not respond to our several requests for an interview nor did Jason Shepard, Cobb County Republican Chairman who himself has challenged an additional 16,000 local v**ers.
Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has encouraged mass challenges by True the V**e’s so-called “E*****rs” as a way to get around federal v**er protections. On its website, True the V**e quotes Raffensperger, “Though federal law restricts our ability to update our v***r r**********n lists, the E*****r Challenge is a vehicle under our law to ensure v**er integrity.”
I have attempted several times to speak with Raffensperger without success.
The interview with Reardon concluded when, questioned about the legality of her actions, Reardon ordered me to leave. I did leave immediately, taking note of the several handguns and ammunition boxes lying about, the shotgun leaning next to her front door and photos of Reardon holding an automatic weapon.
GOP v**e challenger Reardon showed us her boxes of ammo and handguns on the coffee table and shotgun next to the front door. Photo: Zach D. Roberts
The stately Reardon, dressed elegantly in a Nancy Reagan-style red dress, concluded her argument with, “You’re an a**hole. F*** you!”
https://gregpalast.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=33e4ec877eed6a43863a4a92e&id=253bffc79d&e=6845967510For over 8 years, Palast has been investigating v**e suppression in Georgia for Rolling Stone, Black V**ers Matter and, for this investigation, The Thom Hartmann Program (
https://gregpalast.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=33e4ec877eed6a43863a4a92e&id=bbecf6e5c6&e=6845967510) . Georgia report produced and edited by David Ambrose for The Thom Hartmann Program and the Palast Investigative Fund. Videographer/Associate Producer: Zach D. Roberts.
Watch for Palast’s interview on Brian Ross Investigates Tuesday night.
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Greg Palast (Rolling Stone, Guardian, BBC) is the author of The New York Times bestsellers, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy and Billionaires & B****t Bandits, out as major non-fiction movie: ** The Best Democracy Money Can Buy: The Case of the S****n E******n (
https://gregpalast.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=33e4ec877eed6a43863a4a92e&id=e7814ddd0c&e=6845967510)
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