How the Federal Election Commission is undermining the integrity of our elections

Georgia’s elections are all over the headlines this past week after the Trump indictment, but there is one issue key to protecting our votes missing from those headlines: transparency in campaign spending.

In Georgia, we believe all voters have a right to know when wealthy special interests are spending big to influence our vote. Unfortunately, the Federal Election Commission, the agency tasked with enforcing federal campaign finance laws, has failed Georgia voters and left us in the dark about an out-of-state group that illegally spent untold sums to try and stop some of us from voting in the 2021 U.S. Senate runoff elections.

This particular story centers around the Texas-based “True the Vote,” which has made a name for itself peddling in widely disproven election conspiracy theories. They’ve run afoul now of the  Georgia State Election Board as well, which sued True the Vote on July 11 for dodging questions about unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud they made.

Here’s what we know: In December 2020, True the Vote issued a press release promoting its “partnership with the Georgia Republican Party to assist with the Senate runoff election process,” including providing signature verification training, absentee ballot drop box monitoring, and a host of other election-related activities. The press release quoted the Georgia Republican Party’s then-chairman, saying the party was “grateful” for True the Vote’s help with “the fight for election integrity.” Lo and behold, True the Vote launched an effort to challenge the eligibility of more than 360,000 Georgia voters, more than 5 percent of registered voters in our state. The stated goal of its own donors was to “win by eliminating votes and changing the count.”

Here’s why this is all a problem.

If groups like True the Vote can spread disinformation, air unsubstantiated claims of malfeasance about our election systems and improperly coordinate with political parties to disenfranchise voters without facing consequences, we can expect to see more of these voter intimidation attempts in the future.

Federal law explicitly bars organizations like True the Vote from spending money to coordinate with political party committees like the Georgia Republican Party to influence federal elections. Federal law likewise requires political parties to publicly disclose allcontributions they receive, whether it comes in the form of a check or work done at a party’s express request. This is all to make sure the American people can know who is spending money to influence our votes.

These groups knew their coordinated spending was against the law, which is why they took steps to avoid disclosure. We at Common Cause Georgia knew this was wrong, and we filed a complaint with the FEC about True the Vote’s illegal and undisclosed contributions to the Georgia Republican Party.

The FEC’s own lawyers recommended investigating but the FEC’s commissioners didn’t have the four votes necessary to move forward with an investigation, resulting in the case being set aside.

We are now suing the Federal Election Commission to get the agency to do its job and investigate this coordinated campaign aimed at suppressing the votes of hundreds of thousands of Georgians during the hotly contested 2021 Senate run-off elections.

Georgians, and all Americans, deserve a Federal Election Commission that enforces campaign finance laws and holds those who violate the law accountable. Continued refusal to address these violations will only invite further schemes to sway the outcome of our elections illegally and in secret.

If nothing is done, this will signal to True the Vote and other disruptive dark money organizations that big money in politics will triumph over people’s rights.

We know that nothing matters more in our country than “we, the people.” It’s time the Federal Election Commission is reminded of this fact.

Aunna Dennis is the executive director of Common Cause Georgia, a nonpartisan, grassroots organization dedicated to upholding the core values of American democracy.