Amid GOP focus on elections, Georgia Republicans remove officer found to have voted illegally

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia’s Republican Party has removed one of its officers after an administrative law judge found he voted illegally nine times after moving to the state.

The state Republican Committee voted 146-24 on Friday to remove Brian K. Pritchard, its first vice chairman, state Chairman Josh McKoon said after the closed meeting.

Georgia is one of a number of state Republican parties that have experienced turmoil as supporters of Donald Trump have taken over at the grassroots level, ousting previous leaders and demanding that the party prioritize Trump’s false claims of fraud in the 2020 election.

Many established Georgia Republicans including Gov. Brian Kemp have walked away from the state party organization. Kemp, for example, doesn’t plan to appear at the state Republican Convention next week in Columbus.

But the fervor is having an impact, and demands for “election integrity” have translated into multiple changes to Georgia election law. Earlier this week Kemp signed a law that could ease the removal of people from the voting rolls through challenges to voter eligibility.

Under pressure from GOP activists, Republicans rammed through a sprawling law in 2021 that shortened the time for requesting a ballot by mail, allowed only restricted use of ballot drop boxes and made it illegal to give food or water to voters waiting in line near a polling place.

<bsp-list-loadmore data-module="" class=«PageListStandardB» data-gtm-region=«READ MORE» data-gtm-topic=«No Value» data-show-loadmore=«true» data-gtm-modulestyle=«List B»> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> READ MORE </bsp-custom-headline> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> A Republican operative is running for Congress in Georgia with Trump’s