The Georgia State Senate is reportedly planning to replace the acting chairman of the State Election Board just weeks after he voted against investigating how Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) managed the 2020 presidential election. Raffensperger’s political adversary, Lt. Governor Burt Jones (R), will reportedly play a role in determining the new chairman.
Acting chairman Matt Mashburn will be replaced with another Republican by the Georgia State Senate, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which cited two sources familiar with the plan. Mashburn most recently received a two-year appointment by former Lt. Governor Geoff Duncan (R), and was confirmed by the Georgia Senate in 2021. His term expired earlier this year.
Mashburn recently rebuked a collection of Georgia election activists on December 19, when he voted against an investigation that sought to hold Raffensperger accountable for errors made during the 2020 election, citing flaws found by the State Election Board regarding Raffensperger’s administration of the vote audit in Fulton County.
In November 2020, as former President Donald Trump and his allies hotly contested the election results in Georgia and other battleground states, Mashburn dedicated part of a State Election Board meeting to explain his stance that no significant fraud occurred in Georgia during the presidential election.
“By the time this election is done, we will have the most looked-at, checked, double-checked, and – after the recount – triple-checked and examined election possible,” Mashburn asserted at the time.
Part of the plan to replace Mashburn involves Jones, the AJC also reported. Jones, a longtime critic of Raffensperger, recently began an advertising campaign against Raffensperger which accused him of being “missing” and derelict in his job duties.
“Since 2021, Brad Raffensperger has spent 70% of the time away from his job—missing important budget hearings, Election Integrity hearings, and literally just not showing up to work,” wrote Jones in a social media post including the ad. Jones’ video resembled a missing persons notice, and urged viewers to call a number associated with the Georgia Secretary of State if they should spot Raffensperger in public.
Raffensperger and Jones could also face each other in an upcoming race for governor, AJC noted.
An election-related lawsuit against Raffensperger and the Georgia Secretary of State’s office is scheduled to go to trial on January 7. The plaintiffs in the case alleged that Raffensperger failed to create a secure electronic voting system for the state, and 9th District Court Judge Amy Totenberg urged both parties in a November order to consider “reasonable, timely discussion and compromise in this case” for “the public good” prior to the 2024 elections.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Georgia Star News, The Virginia Star, and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Georgia Senate Floor” by Georgia Senate and “Matthew Mashburn” is by Georgia Election Board.
