February 26, 2023

As many of you have become aware at its January 27, 2023 meeting, in a gleeful tone boasted that the DeKalb County Board of Registration and Elections announced it had been awarded a $2 million grant from the U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence in violation of the spirit of Election Integrity Act 2021 (SB202). Equally stunning as evidence that this is a highly partisan exercise, our Republican appointees to the DeKalb BRE had no prior knowledge of the grant.  In fact, DeKalb County Board Elections Chair Lowman Smith brazenly stated “I’m excited about this. It’s kind of a nerdy big deal since election offices are not allowed to receive grants directly, the lengthy application process was led by the county’s finance department.”  Indeed it was as we discovered that in May of 2022, Preston Stephens, Deputy Chief Financial Officer for DeKalb County completed the U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence application.

It takes ongoing vigilance and persistence to ensure FITness – Faith, Integrity and Trust in our Elections.  We are now faced with a new challenge of Zuckerbucks 2.0 infiltrating our next election cycle. After first learning of such an egregious scheme, I sprang into action reaching out to the State of Board of Elections, Secretary of State’s Office, our Attorney General and Lt. Governor as well as many elected officials, Greater Georgia and several Election Integrity groups.  I personally filed a complaint and opened an ORR- Open Records Request.  I joined Election Integrity Network: WHO’S COUNTING? WITH CLETA MITCHELL to start a national campaign to Stop Zuckerbucks 2.0. Fast forward in less than three weeks and after Jayre Jones and I testified at the Senate Ethics Committee Hearing last week with several supporters looking on, we now have SB222 in play which if passed will make the solicitation or acceptance of third-party funds a criminal felony with a mandatory minimum of one year jail sentence and a minimum fine of $10,000. The acceptance of these funds may be retroactive. Meaning that DeKalb County will not be allowed to accept the $2 Million in Zuckerbucks.  We also have confirmation that the State Board of Elections has opened an investigation of these nefarious activities and to get to the bottom of this conspiracy to blatantly circumvent of SB202. I have demonstrated by taking outrage into action that I will continually advocate and strive to improve our election laws to ensure that all Georgians continue to have free and fair elections.

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Please mark your calendars and attend this Senate Ethics Committee meeting at the Georgia Capitol tomorrow, Monday, Feb 27, 2023 at 5 PM in Room 450 —— this is a hearing/possible vote on key election integrity legislative proposals.  Note: It is recommended to come earlier to sign up to testify.

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It’s time to register for the DeKalb GOP County Convention on Saturday, March 11th at 10 AMPreregistration will close at NOON on Friday, March 10, 2023.   Registration and check in for DeKalb GOP County Convention will open at 9:00 AM and the Caucus will convene at 10:00 AM at the following location: Stone Ridge Event Center which is located at 1750 Stone Ridge Dr., Suite A, Stone Mountain, GA 30083.  We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Alveda King, Mayor Frank Auman, Vernon Jones, The Lakeside High School Color Guard and Andrea Johnson as our special guests! See the details below as the March 1st deadline is approaching for Executive Committee Nominations, Resolutions and Rule Changes.

We look forward to seeing all of you soon.  Happy President’s Day! Thank you.

Marci McCarthy

Chairman, DeKalb County Republican Party

GAGOP First Vice Chairman Candidate

chairman@dekalbgop.org

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