ICYMI: RightCount Georgia Chair: DOJ Overreach Threatens Georgia Elections, Undermines Constitution

In case you missed it, today’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution features an op-ed from Eric Johnson, former president pro tempore of the Georgia Senate and current chair of RightCount Georgia. Johnson warns that recent actions by the U.S. Department of Justice to demand personal voter data from states, including Georgia, represent federal overreach that undermines the Constitution, state sovereignty, and voter privacy.

As Johnson argues, Georgia has some of the strongest election safeguards in the nation. Instead of respecting state authority, DOJ is demanding access to sensitive voter information – driver’s license numbers, Social Security numbers, party primary history – without clear legal justification or constitutional authority.

Below are notable excerpts from Eric’s piece.

Federal Overreach Undermines Constitution and Georgia State-Run Elections

Georgia can work with DHS or DOJ when appropriate, but only when state sovereignty and the rule of law is respected and voter privacy is protected

Eric Johnson | August 29, 2025

“In recent weeks, the U.S. Department of Justice has quietly launched a sweeping campaign to obtain election and voter data from states across the country, including Georgia. These outreach efforts have included requests for personal information on all Georgia voters, including driver’s license numbers, Social Security numbers, full dates of birth and which party primary you previously voted in. DOJ says it needs this personal identifying information on all Georgia voters to ensure election integrity, but as we say in Georgia, that dog don’t hunt.”

“This is not oversight. It’s overreach. And it should concern every conservative — every American — who values civil liberties, federalism, the rule of law and local control.”

“The U.S. Constitution gives states, not Washington, D.C., the authority to conduct and manage elections. America’s founders designed it that way on purpose, believing that decentralization protects against both fraud and tyranny.”

“In Georgia, we already have secure elections. We don’t need to send all of our private information to bureaucrats in Washington to tell us something we already know.”

“Arming the federal government with a national database of voter information, complete with private information and voter history, is the first step to federalizing elections — and conservatives should oppose it now just as we did when Nancy Pelosi tried it with H.R. 1.”

“RightCount believes collaboration between state and federal entities on matters of election integrity should be voluntary, transparent and grounded in the Constitution. That’s the conservative model.”

You can read the full piece on the AJC’s site by clicking here.

For more information on RightCount’s operations in Georgia visit www.rightcount.org/georgia.