Voter challenges (Effingham County Elections And Registration Office)

Caroline Haskins filed this request with the Effingham County Elections And Registration Office of Effingham County, GA.
Multi Request Voter challenges
Est. Completion None
Status
No Responsive Documents

Communications

From: Caroline Haskins

To Whom It May Concern:

In July, ProPublica published this article about mass challenges to voter registrations in Georgia. ProPublica said that to report the article, they relied on county data for challenges to other voters’ registrations since the time that SB 202 went into effect. (ProPublica received this data for all of Georgia's counties.)
Link: https://www.propublica.org/article/right-wing-activists-georgia-voter-challenges
Therefore, pursuant to Georgia Open Records Act, I hereby request the following records:

1) Data for all challenges to other voters’ registrations from March 25, 2021 to the time that the request is processed. Please make sure that the responsive documents include the name of the person who filed the voter challenge.

2) If maintained: any documents, lists, or spreadsheets that illustrate or track how many voter registration challenges have been filed by specific individuals. (Ex. any document that would show that a John Doe filed 30 voter registration challenges, Jane Doe filed 20, etc.)

This FOI request is being filed in pursuit of a time-sensitive news story. Therefore, I ask that my request is expedited. When completing this request, please prioritize whichever records would take the least amount of time to be located and released. I would like these records in electronic format, sent via email or other digital method, and again, please release documents on a rolling basis, as they become available. If possible, please first sed all records requested by / released to ProPublica (the reporters were Doug Bock Clark, Irena Hwang, and Joel Jacobs) before completing the rest of the request. They would have requested data for a shorter time frame, since their article was published in July, and the documents should already be gathered, because it's already been released to them.

If there are any questions about my request, can provide any clarification that will help expedite the processing of my request, please contact me at emailcarolinehaskins@gmail.com. I am also happy to hop on the phone.

If you determine that any of the information qualifies for an exemption from disclosure, I ask you to note whether the exemption is discretionary, and if so whether it is necessary in this case to exercise your discretion to withhold the information. In any event, please provide a signed notification citing the legal authorities on which you rely if you determine that any of the information is exempt and will not be disclosed.

Also, I am a member of the news media, and the requested documents are in the public interest and not being made for commercial purposes. Therefore, I ask that all fees are waived in the processing of my request. If fees associated with this request will be in excess of $25, kindly notify me in advance of fulfilling this request. As I am making this request as a journalist and this information is timely, I would appreciate your communicating with me if you have questions regarding this request.

Thanks again, and I look forward to your reply within 3 business days, as the statute requires, and an even more prompt reply if you can make a determination without having to review the records in question.

Best,
Caroline Haskins

From: Effingham County Elections And Registration Office

Good afternoon Caroline,

All Open Records Requests will need to be submitted through our open records online portal. The link is: Open Records Request | Effingham County, GA<https://www.effinghamcounty.org/505/Open-Records-Request>. Once you’re on that page, simply click “Submit an Open Records Request” and follow the steps provided.

Thank you,

Krystle McDonald
Assistant Director of Elections and Registration
Effingham County, GA
912-754-8030

From: Effingham County Elections And Registration Office

Hi Caroline.

Effingham County had no requests of this nature during this time period that I am aware of.

Thank you,

Laura Bassett
Director of Elections and Registration
284 GA Highway 119 S
Springfield, GA 31329
912-754-8030
912-658-2664 (mobile)
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