'That needs to cease': GOP chair declares war on election deniers steering Georgia board

The Republican chair of Georgia’s State Election Board is signaling heads may roll at a special meeting Friday after a new report revealed that board members and staff had been coordinating with an activist group led by a prominent 2020 election denier.

ProPublica reviewed recordings of private calls and events showing current and former board members working with the Election Integrity Network (EIN), led by conservative attorney Cleta Mitchell, who worked with Donald Trump to try to overturn his 2020 election loss.

Board chair John Fervier, who said he had long sensed an outside force shaping the board’s actions, called the meeting in part to discuss unspecified personnel matters.

“The more I look into this, the more I’m realizing that the Election Integrity Network has been having an undue influence on the State Election Board, and that needs to cease,” Fervier told ProPublica. “I’m looking forward to changes in how the election board operates.”

“Activists should not control the board,” Fervier added. “I’m really looking forward to this meeting because I think that we’re going to address some issues that should have been addressed awhile ago.”

Recordings of private calls and events reviewed by ProPublica show current and former board members working with her Election Integrity Network (EIN) and allied groups on shared priorities.

Vice Chair Janelle King and her predecessor, Janice Johnston, have attended meetings of EIN or VoterGA, an affiliated group. At least three of the board’s eight professional staffers have taken part in EIN meetings, including people who handle complaints about voter fraud and misconduct by election officials. Executive Director James Mills has worked closely with EIN members, according to five sources.

“You know, we’ve worked so hard together,” Mitchell said of Johnston and King at an August 2025 VoterGA fundraiser.

Fervier is part of the board’s four-member Republican majority, but he has repeatedly clashed with Johnston, King and Mills. Records obtained by ProPublica show that he and other members who opposed EIN-backed steps were cut out of some hiring decisions.

The prospect of firings sent EIN allies scrambling. Garland Favorito, an EIN leader and head of VoterGA, urged his followers to flood board members with messages defending Mills and other staffers.

“There is a significant possibility that these members will vote to terminate the Executive Director, investigators or possibly even staff members, any of which would destroy the SEB as we now know it,” Favorito wrote Wednesday.

Mitchell mocked the reporting on X.

“An election integrity group is working with election officials to oversee elections,” she wrote. “Wow! What a discovery!!! Pulitzer anyone?”

Mills declined to answer ProPublica’s questions. King said she spoke with EIN and VoterGA activists but that they did not influence her decisions. When told that staffers had advanced EIN goals in their official roles, she responded, “That is the first I’ve heard about it.”

The board’s days may be numbered regardless. Democrats won every statewide office and the state House last week. Gov.-elect Keisha Lance Bottoms has pledged to “eliminate the current State Election Board” and replace it with an oversight structure “insulated from partisan manipulation.”