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State Election Board bites off more than it can chew, doesn’t investigate Athens-Clarke County

Stephen Fowler
/
GPB News

The Executive Director of the State Election Board Mike Coan presented his investigation into a number of counties this afternoon in Atlanta. The investigation was initiated after conservative activists charged a number of counties with failing to properly investigate voter challenges.

Coan said that based on his investigation, the implicated counties engaged in wrongdoing.

“It appears there is a systematic denial of voter challenges, especially when there’s a large batch of challenges.”

Coan said that he talked to both Democrats and Republicans during the proceedings, at one point calling into question his own qualifications.

“That’s the way I went about it. That’s the only way I knew how to go about it. I’m not an investigator.”

Though Athens-Clarke County was among the counties Coan aimed to investigate, he was not able to speak with county officials in the ten-day period he conducted the investigation. He was able to determine, however, that Athens-Clarke County did not receive or dismiss any mass voter challenges.

Emma Auer is an award-winning reporter who joined WUGA as a full-time producer in 2024. She is also a graduate student in UGA's Romance Languages Department, studying French and Spanish. She covers the breadth of Northeast Georgia stories, from Athens City Hall to Winterville farmers' markets. Emma's work has also been heard on Georgia Public Broadcasting.
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