ATLANTA – The Georgia Republican Party fired one of its officials 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 several state Republican parties that have experienced turmoil as supporters of Donald Trump seized power at the grassroots, ousting previous leaders and demanding the party prioritize Trump’s false claims of fraud in the 2020 election.
Many established Georgia Republicans, including Governor Brian Kemp, have abandoned the state party organization. Kemp, for example, does not plan to attend 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’s election law. Earlier this week, Kemp signed legislation that could make it easier to remove people from voting rolls through challenges to voter eligibility.
Under pressure from GOP activists, Republicans pushed through a sweeping law in 2021 that shortened the time to request a mail-in ballot, 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 place.
It was this focus that made the findings against Pritchard deeply embarrassing for many Republican activists. In March, Administrative Law Judge Lisa Boggs found that Pritchard was still on probation when he moved to Gilmer County in north Georgia after pleading guilty to forging signatures on two checks worth $38,000. in his home state of Pennsylvania in 1996.
She ruled that Pritchard lied when he registered to vote in 2008, swearing he was not serving time for a felony conviction. Boggs found that Pritchard voted illegally in nine elections in 2008 and 2010, fined him $5,000, ordered him to receive a public reprimand and ordered him to repay the $375 the State Election Board spent investigating the case.
Pritchard, who hosts a conservative online talk show, has long denied any wrongdoing, saying he did not believe he was still on parole in 2008. After McKoon asked him to resign, Pritchard alleged that McKoon and others were out to get him for fighting the so-called RINOs, or Republicans in Name Only.
“My mission was clear: to lead our party back on track and ensure that, in 2024, Donald J. Trump would rightfully regain his position as leader of our nation,” Pritchard wrote on Facebook in April. “But when I started asking difficult questions, challenging the status quo, I found myself facing a barrage of internal resistance. You see, in the eyes of the entrenched RINO establishment, questioning their authority is akin to heresy. They would rather maintain their grip on power than defend the values we hold dear.”
McKoon said Friday after the vote that Pritchard’s removal was necessary after he refused to resign.
“Today’s vote demonstrates how seriously we take election integrity,” McKoon said in a statement.
Other party activists agreed.
“It was the right thing to do,” Debbie Dooley, an outspoken Trump supporter, posted on social platform X. “The focus needs to be on electing Donald Trump and fighting for election integrity and fighting voter fraud.”
Pritchard’s removal could spark an escalating fight over who should represent Georgia on the Republican National Committee. In addition to McKoon, who serves on the committee by virtue of her position, delegates will elect two other members – last time it was committeewoman Ginger Howard and committeeman Jason Thompson.
These two now face opponents driven in part by the same forces that elected Pritchard last year.
Among them are the party’s second vice president, David Cross, who has been one of Pritchard’s most vocal supporters, and his wife, Shawn Cross. David Cross declined to comment to The Associated Press on Friday, expressing criticism of the news outlet’s previous coverage of the State Election Board.
Other challengers are expected to include Jason Frazier, who has been active in formulating voter eligibility challenges, and Amy Kremer, who got her start in Republican politics as a Tea Party activist and later became an ardent Trump supporter. A group led by Kremer obtained permits for the January 6, 2021 “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington. Some attendees of that rally later attacked the U.S. Capitol.
