A private company aided by Republican "election integrity activists" is "attempting to sell software to Georgia election officials and residents that would enable them to aggressively cancel voter registrations," Mark Niesse reports in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Monday.
EagleAI's "software could be used by local governments as well as individuals who have challenged the eligibility of tens of thousands of voters since the 2020 presidential election," Niesse explains. "EagleAI's sales pitch has alarmed voting rights organizations that say it could be abused to attempt to disenfranchise legitimate voters."
Niesse finds that those efforts are compounding on former President Donald Trump's unsuccessful attempt to overturn President Joe Biden's 2020 victory in the Peach State. "Since then," Niesse reveals, EagleAI "filed challenges to nearly 100,000 Georgia voters' eligibility, in some cases forcing legitimate voters to defend their right to vote."
Niesse points out that despite Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger defending "Georgia's voter lists" as "the cleanest in the nation,'" EagleAI's "presentation alleges the state's voter rolls are bloated with people who have died or moved away."
Raffensperger's spokesman, Mike Hassinger told Niesse that "EagleAI data offers zero additional value to Georgia's existing list maintenance procedures," adding, "We already utilize the most accurate death data through our Department of Public Health and the Social Security death master list. We already check for duplicates."
Moreover, Niesse questions EagleAI's non-partisanship because Chief Executive Officer Rick Richards "frequently speaks during Zoom calls hosted by Cleta Mitchell, an attorney who supported efforts to overturn Trump's loss and participated in the former president's call to Raffensperger asking him to 'find' enough votes to reverse the outcome."
Niesse notes that "the Zoom calls, which bring together members of Mitchell's Election Integrity Network group, also included Jason Frazier, a Republican Party nominee to the Fulton County election board who has challenged the registrations of almost 10,000 people since last year."
EagleAI "is negotiating with Columbia County's election board and has discussed working with a dozen more Georgia counties, according to emails obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution under the state's open records law," Niesse writes.
Meanwhile, Niesse continues, "EagleAI says it plans to start its voter registration list efforts in Georgia, then expand to other states, including Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Nevada, North Carolina and Texas."
