'Increasingly concerned': Onlookers fear Trump has laid groundwork to steal Georgia vote

Conservative Janelle King is the latest appointee to the Georgia State Board of Elections — and she's already causing questions about whether she intends to subvert democracy to ensure Donald Trump recaptures the state after he lost it in 2020.

King, however, claims that the allegations are unfounded and she hasn't had any contact with the Trump campaign, The Guardian reported Monday.

Trump lost Georgia by 11,779 votes in the last presidential election, prompting a call to Republican officials demanding that they "find" 11,780 votes so that he would be declared the winner. The efforts by Trump and his surrogates to call the election result into question led to the racketeering case being prosecuted in Fulton County.

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“I’ve heard several rumors about what I’m going to do or not going to do,” King said. “And the way I see it is that this is what people expect of me and what they perceive. But I’ve never been one to do anything based off of what other people want. I like being fair, I like getting good sleep at night.”

The speaker of the house in Georgia, Jon Burns, nominated King. He and other Republican colleagues have already endorsed Trump.

King previously served as the deputy director for the Georgia Republican Party, and her husband is the co-chair of the conservative political action committee Let’s Win For America Action. However, King has also worked with bipartisan groups like the League of Women Voters.

But when asked whether she thinks the 2020 election was stolen, King says she doesn't know.

“I believe that there were some things that are questionable,” King said. “And I believe that those things have caused a disruption in whether or not people believe in our process.”

As an election board member, King will help spread news about election rules, do voter education, and investigate any possible voter fraud. As a board member, she will also have the power to make any recommendations to the attorney general about the election.

King is one of five board members, with four Republicans and just one Democrat.

“The state elections board has a massive role to play in how Georgia’s elections are run and certified, especially this year in a swing state that decided the last presidential election,” said Stephanie Jackson Ali, who directs policy for the New Georgia Project Action Fund. “The members of the SEB could, quite literally, determine who wins in November.”

“With this appointment, I’m increasingly concerned about the future politicization of a board that should be focused on running our elections smoothly and accessibly for Georgia voters, not on moving forward an agenda for partisan gain,” Jackson Ali added.