In a New York Times op-ed published in the last week of March, Fulton County, Georgia Commissioners Dana Barrett and Mo Ivory describe how they voted against seating two local Republican Party nominees to the county’s Board of Elections because both have documented records of undermining elections.
Both nominees also have direct ties to the Election Integrity Network, a group founded by Trump’s former attorney, Cleta Mitchell, who played a central role in efforts to overturn Trump’s 2020 loss.
What Happened
When the Fulton County commissioners initially voted against the GOP nominees, the Fulton County Republican Party, backed by the Republican National Committee, sued. A judge held the commissioners in contempt and imposed $10,000-a-day fines. On March 20, the Georgia Court of Appeals reversed the lower court’s ruling, holding that the commissioners were exercising their “constitutional prerogative.”
Why it Matters
Fulton County has been ground-zero for Trump’s election interference strategy since 2020. From debunked claims about “suitcases of ballots,” to Trump’s pressure call to Georgia’s Secretary of State to “find” votes (Cleta Mitchell, who later started the Election Integrity Network, joined the call as his advisor), and the county’s criminal racketeering case against Trump and his allies – in which a Georgia grand jury recommended indicting Trump and Mitchell.
Fulton Tactics Spreading
After Trump’s FBI raided the Fulton County elections warehouse – using false claims supplied by people associated with Mitchell’s Election Integrity Network – they subpoenaed records from the controversial review of Maricopa County’s 2020 election in Arizona. In February, Mitchell was also reported to have met with White House officials specifically to discuss elections. Activists working with the Michigan chapter of Mitchell’s Election Integrity Network have obtained 150,000 election absentee ballots and envelopes from the 2020 election. The group is reviewing them to “see if there are parallels” between what happened in Fulton County and Michigan.
Comment from Lauren Groh-Wargo, Fair Fight Action CEO
“Fulton has been ground zero for Trump’s election interference since 2020. It’s the epicenter of nearly every major attack on fair elections by Trump and his allies – what happens here often sets the template for what they try across the country. The legal battle to force election deniers onto Fulton’s election board may feel like a local story, but it has national implications. The nominees are part of the Election Integrity Network, an organization started by Trump’s attorney who played a central role in attempting to overturn his 2020 loss. Activists from that network have now been placed in federal roles at DHS, DOJ, and CISA.”
Key Points from the Fulton Commissioners’ NY Times Op-Ed:
The nominees are not standard picks. Julie Adams is affiliated with the Election Integrity Network and praised the FBI’s current investigation of Fulton’s 2020 election results – an investigation Fair Fight and legal experts have called a sham. Jason Frazier challenged the voter registrations of roughly 10,000 Georgians and helped develop software designed to facilitate mass voter challenges.
The Fulton Republican Party changed its own playbook to escalate. When the commission rejected Frazier in 2023, the Fulton County GOP effectively acknowledged the commissioners’ discretion by withdrawing his name and submitting a different nominee. This time, backed by the RNC, they sued, sought contempt, and got a judge to impose $10,000-a-day fines rather than nominate someone else.
The appeals court was unequivocal. The Court of Appeals ruled the commissioners were simply exercising their “constitutional prerogative” and their “judgment” on behalf of the voters who elected them. The court also found the trial judge had “abused” its discretion by holding the commissioners in civil contempt.
Commissioners Barrett and Ivory connect Fulton to Trump’s attack on the 2026 elections. The op-ed ties this local fight to Trump’s push to federalize elections, the FBI’s seizure of documents from a Fulton election office, and the broader Republican effort to undermine election administration ahead of 2026. Their closing message: “This is not a drill.”
Keep up. Stay vigilant. Be ready to vote.
Fair Fight Team