Georgia election officials are investigating third-party voter registration solicitations mailed to deceased residents and other ineligible recipients, including one addressed to a family dog that had died, ahead of Georgia’s Nov. 3 election.
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced the investigation July 9, naming Ready to Register and other outside groups. His office said it had received numerous reports from across the state and is reviewing whether the mailings violated Georgia law or undermined confidence in the election system.
Photos released by the office show forms carrying handwritten objections from relatives. One solicitation was addressed to “Sheba,” a deceased dog, as 11Alive’s report documented. Raffensperger said third-party registration campaigns frequently rely on commercial databases that may contain obsolete names and addresses.
The documents are solicitations, not ballots, and receiving one does not place anyone on Georgia’s voter rolls. Under Georgia’s official registration process, an applicant must submit a form and a county election office determines eligibility. Officials have not announced any finding that Ready to Register or another organization broke the law.
Similar complaints surfaced in North Carolina, where state election officials warned residents that Ready to Register had sent outdated forms, used an incorrect return address in one county and distributed QR codes that may have populated forms with another person’s information. North Carolina officials said the campaign created confusion and additional work for local election offices.
Raffensperger urged already-registered Georgians to disregard unsolicited forms.
