Georgia's GOP election chief resists Trump's push for voter data a week before midterms

Georgia election officials are opening their warehouses to the public as they prepare for the Nov. 3 midterms. They are trying to rebuild trust after years of false claims about the 2020 vote, PBS NewsHour reported Tuesday. ¹

In Paulding County, about an hour west of Atlanta, workers are unpacking voting machines and running accuracy tests. Each ballot scanner is locked in six places to guard against tampering. ¹ After 2020, Georgia began inviting the press and public to watch these checks in action. ¹

On tapePBS NewsHour · Oct 27

▶8:08

A Republican who said no

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, oversees elections in all 159 Georgia counties. He became widely known for refusing to help Donald Trump overturn the 2020 result in Georgia. ¹ On a call that has since become public, Trump said he wanted to "find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have, because we won the state." ¹

Now Raffensperger is resisting the Trump administration's push for more control over elections. Georgia, like 30 other states, refused to give the Justice Department sensitive voter information. The department wanted Social Security numbers and full birth dates. ¹

From Channel GOPTrump on the Alaska ballot and the DOJ suitDonald Trump · 223 plays · captioned, with the source named

A federal judge sided with Georgia on Sept. 30. U.S. District Judge Victoria Marie Calvert dismissed the Justice Department's lawsuit and wrote that federal law does not override Georgia's voter privacy law. ² The department has not said whether it will appeal. ²

I will not give in and break the law for anyone. Period.

Doubts remain

Trump's claims about Georgia still affect some voters. In January, FBI agents raided the Fulton County election headquarters and seized hundreds of boxes of 2020 material. Nearly nine months later, the FBI has brought no charges. ¹

Salleigh Grubbs, a Republican appointed to the State Election Board last year, says Fulton County double counted ballots in 2020. A state investigation found some double counting during a recount. It blamed human error and said the mistakes were not enough to change any result. ¹

Grubbs also says the state's Dominion voting machines are not trustworthy. The board wants Georgia to help the Justice Department investigate them. Raffensperger's office says the machines are secure, and Georgia plans to replace them by 2028. ¹ Grubbs says she will accept next month's results. ¹

Why it matters

That matters because the dispute is no longer only Republicans versus Democrats. A Republican state official and a federal judge are telling the Trump administration it went further than the law allows. Georgia says an audit found its voter rolls were 99.8 percent accurate. ¹

Georgia has about eight million registered voters, and very few noncitizens have been found on its rolls. ¹ The state already requires voter ID. ¹ Raffensperger says his goal is for his office to project timeliness and accuracy so Georgians can trust the results. ¹

The Record

1. Sep 30, 2026A federal judge dismissed the Justice Department's suit seeking Georgia's unredacted voter list. ²
2. Oct 27, 2026PBS NewsHour reported on Georgia's efforts to rebuild trust in elections ahead of Nov. 3. ¹

Sources

1. PBS NewsHour, “Inside Georgia's push to rebuild trust in elections after Trump's false claims” (2026-10-27). pbs.org/newshour/show/inside-georgias-push-to-rebuild-trust-
2. FOX 5 Atlanta, “Federal judge dismisses DOJ lawsuit against Raffensperger over voter rolls” (2026-09-30). fox5atlanta.com/news/federal-judge-dismisses-doj-lawsuit-aga

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