Friday, November 13, 2026 Vol. I · No. 23 · Afternoon Edition Print size
Election 2026 494 of 505 races called See the results → The GOP Files Receipts on the Republican-run Washington · Sourced · Dated · On the record On Instagram 5.6M plays and counting @thegopfiles →
The Wire
Grand jury adds attempted terrorism charge against Correspondents' Dinner suspect About 32,000 immigrants face losing Medicare Feb. 1 under Republican tax-and-spending law Navy quietly fired submarine and destroyer leaders, Democrats say Congress was not told Miller memo requires White House staff to get counsel's approval before meeting lobbyists DOJ memo tells federal agencies to put English first and cut other languages On tape: Trump's Jan. 6 pardons told ICE it was beyond the law, Rep. Al Green says on the House floor Garcia calls Blanche's warning a threat; DOJ chief cites Constitution Bessent says Treasury wanted Megaspeed blacklisted, but 'Commerce has the pen' Postal Service to raise package prices Jan. 17 after $6.5 billion loss On tape: Cory Booker tells Kash Patel a federal judge vowed to toss subpoenas for reporters' phone records Grand jury adds attempted terrorism charge against Correspondents' Dinner suspect About 32,000 immigrants face losing Medicare Feb. 1 under Republican tax-and-spending law Navy quietly fired submarine and destroyer leaders, Democrats say Congress was not told Miller memo requires White House staff to get counsel's approval before meeting lobbyists DOJ memo tells federal agencies to put English first and cut other languages On tape: Trump's Jan. 6 pardons told ICE it was beyond the law, Rep. Al Green says on the House floor Garcia calls Blanche's warning a threat; DOJ chief cites Constitution Bessent says Treasury wanted Megaspeed blacklisted, but 'Commerce has the pen' Postal Service to raise package prices Jan. 17 after $6.5 billion loss On tape: Cory Booker tells Kash Patel a federal judge vowed to toss subpoenas for reporters' phone records

Voting Rights · Report · File No. 261111-226

ProPublica: Tool built by election deniers flagged four living Georgia voters as dead

A Forsyth County, Georgia, election board member used the ELLY data tool to question voters' ballots, and ProPublica found all four people called dead are alive. The board rejected the challenge, but the episode shows how such tools could wrongly target eligible voters.

By the Campaign Desk · · 2 min read

Every quote in this story (1) was matched word for word against its source. How we work

My clippings
Cleta Mitchell
Cleta Mitchell. Photo: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0

A data tool built by a conservative election activist said four Georgia voters were dead. ProPublica found all four alive. The Forsyth County election board rejected the attempt to challenge their ballots 1.

The tool is called ELLY's Election Monitor. It was developed by Rick Richards, a member of the Election Integrity Network, a group led by conservative lawyer Cleta Mitchell that works to restrict voting and tighten election laws and rules 1. Mitchell worked closely with Donald Trump in his attempt to overturn his 2020 defeat 1.

What the board member submitted

Late last week, board member Max Clavijo circulated documents based on ELLY data, according to several people familiar with the matter. He questioned whether the names of more than 22,000 people on the county's voter roll were correct. He also disputed the eligibility of 69 voters 1.

Besides the four he claimed were deceased, he alleged others had moved, had voter ID irregularities or had registered under fictitious names. Thirty-eight of the challenges involved voters who registered using a first initial 1.

From Channel GOPTrump dodges rigged-election question, calls Massie loserDonald Trump · 525 plays · captioned, with the source named

Clavijo said he was not trying to disrupt certification or formally challenge voters. Board chair Barbara Luth said activists were bypassing the formal challenge process. Under fire, Clavijo admitted he could not vouch for the data's accuracy 1.

I did not make any explicit accusation that the information was 100% correct,
Max Clavijo, member, Forsyth County election board, Georgia1

The voters were alive

The obituaries submitted for the supposed dead voters did not match the voters' records. All said or suggested the person lived outside Forsyth County, and one said the person lived in Arizona 1.

Alexis Ramirez, a night-shift nurse, said she voted early and was surprised to hear her ballot was contested. Chris Strickland said the claim was false 1. A third voter's son said her ballot is valid 1.

Joel Natt, a Republican board member, said the burden lies with challengers to justify accusations. He said the matter has no relevance until they provide solid evidence "through the proper channel" 1.

Accuracy was already in doubt

ELLY pulls from state voter files, change-of-address records, obituaries and property websites. It lacks Social Security numbers, driver's license numbers and full birth dates, which raises the chance of mix-ups between people with the same name 1. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported in July that Cherokee County's elections director found the tool flagged the wife of a county election board member as possibly dead. She is alive, the director said 2.

Richards has defended the tool. He told ProPublica, "The data is the data. People can use it for what they want to" 1. He told the AJC that ELLY surfaces discrepancies rather than looking for fraud, alleging fraud or claiming to prove it 2.

Why it matters

That matters because Georgia State Election Board members and top staffers have urged counties to use the tool 12. On a private call in October, Richards promised data from more than 3,000 counties to "citizen monitors" and GOP candidates, according to a recording ProPublica reviewed 1.

Here the board caught the errors. Not every county will have officials who check, and a voter told she is dead may not learn of it in time. ProPublica said Richards would not say whether this was part of a wider campaign to contest midterm votes 1.

The Record

  1. The AJC reports Georgia election officials are promoting ELLY, and Cherokee County's elections director found errors in it 2.
  2. On a private call, Richards promises ELLY data from more than 3,000 counties to citizen monitors and GOP candidates, according to a recording ProPublica reviewed 1.
  3. ProPublica reports four voters flagged as dead in Forsyth County are alive; the board rejected the challenge 1.
Republish this story on your site or in your newsletter

Any site, blog or newsletter may run this story free of charge. Keep the credit line and its link to the original, do not sell it, and edit only for length or house style (the full terms). Photos carry their own licenses, noted under each photo on this page, so use the text alone unless a credit says otherwise.

Paste it into your editor's HTML view. The one-pixel image at the end tells our newsroom the story ran; it stores no reader data.

Sources

  1. ProPublica, “A Tool Built by Election Deniers Said These Voters Were Dead. We Found Them Alive.” (2026-11-11). propublica.org/article/election-challenge-forsyth-county-geo
  2. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “Georgia election board promotes new voter-roll tool ahead of midterms” (2026-07-23). ajc.com/politics/2026/07/georgia-election-board-promotes-new

Found an error? Tell the newsroom. Corrections are noted at the top of the story.

More from the files

Delivered free to your door*

The Morning Edition

One short email at 7 a.m. Eastern: the day's top files, one clip worth your time, and the race to watch. Plain English, large type, no clutter.

*Your inbox. Free. Unsubscribe with one click, any time.