ATLANTA  Judge Steve C. Jones today issued a ruling in the federal voting rights case Fair Fight v. True the Vote, which was tried over three weeks in October and November 2023. Through the litigation, Fair Fight challenged the vote-suppressing tactics embraced by the Texas-based organization True the Vote (TTV) including mass voter challenges and other forms of alleged intimidation ahead of the 2021 U.S. Senate runoff in Georgia.  

In the weeks leading to the January 5, 2021 runoff, TTV announced plans to challenge the eligibility of 364,000 registered Georgia voters alleged by TTV to be the largest mass challenge effort in state history. The group also engaged in other aggressive tactics Fair Fight contends intimidated eligible voters, including the recruitment of Navy SEALs and  citizen watchdogs to patrol polling stations and surveil ballot drop boxes, and offering a $1 million fund to incentivize and compensate reports of alleged  illegal voting.  

"We believe True the Vote used Donald Trump's Big Lie as the basis to launch eligibility challenges against more than 364,000 Georgians ahead of the runoff many of whom were Black, brown, and first-time voters, said Fair Fight Executive Director Cianti Stewart-Reid.  Over the last two years, we have seen a growing number of groups follow suit across the country, drawing from True the Vote's anti-voter playbook to launch their own mass voter challenge efforts that continue to this day.

While the Court declined to find the actions by TTV in 2021 amounted to unlawful intimidation, the ruling included stark criticisms of the organization's process for challenging voters. From the very first page of the opinion, the Court reiterated its ongoing concerns about TTV's practices, later noting that TTV's approach to list maintenance  utterly lacked reliability and  verges on recklessness. (Order at 90.)  

As the federal court weighed the evidence presented about True the Vote's tactics in the 2021 runoff elections, it did not hold back its criticisms of the Texas group's methods, said Allegra Lawrence-Hardy, counsel for the Plaintiffs.  To the contrary, the 145-page opinion expressly states the Court in no way[] is condoning TTV's actions in facilitating a mass number of seemingly frivolous challenges.' (Order at 123 n. 60). And yet, the district court ordered no relief for Georgia voters, instead pointing to the actions of the Georgia General Assembly which, after this suit was filed, amended the state's challenge laws to make clear there was no numerical limitation on voter challenges.'

In a further condemnation of TTV's practices, the Court's ruling stated that  [i]t is clear that True the Vote did not engage in a quality process to create the list, nor did they have proper review or controls in place. (Order at 91.)

TTV has long faced legal scrutiny over allegations of its incendiary rhetoric and dangerous disinformation about election integrity. Despite that legal scrutiny, it appears TTV continues to recruit, train, and mobilize conspiracy theorists as part of a district-by-district, county-by-county, state-by-state strategy to embolden individuals to undertake the types of tactics that lead to voter intimidation and significant burdens on election administrators.  

Efforts by conspiracy theorists and anti-voter extremists to strip eligible voters from the rolls through mass voter challenges and aggressive voter purges are one of the biggest threats to our democracy and upcoming elections in 2024 said Stewart-Reid.  As always, Fair Fight remains steadfast in our commitment to protect votersboth within and outside the courtroomand advocate for our constitutional right to vote, free from fear of harassment and intimidation.