Judge: Ga. GOP official voted illegally 9 times

A judge has found Georgia Republican Party official Brian Pritchard guilty of illegally voting nine times over several years. Pritchard has falsely asserted Democrats stole the 2020 election through fraud.

Administrative Law Judge Lisa Boggs wrote in her Wednesday decision that Pritchard, the Georgia GOP’s first vice chairman, violated state election laws by voting while on probation for forgery and other felonies, and that his explanations were neither “credible or convincing.”

Pritchard must pay a $5,000 fine and $375.14 in investigative costs incurred by the court. Boggs also ordered that Pritchard “be publicly reprimanded for his conduct” by the State Election Board, which sought the sanctions against him.

On Thursday, Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene called on Pritchard to “resign immediately or be removed” from his Georgia GOP position because he “voted ILLEGALLY nine times while serving out his probation for FELONY check forgery.”

“The Republican Party is the party of election integrity,” Greene said on X, and “our state party should be the leading voice on securing our elections.”

Pritchard, a conservative talk show host, has claimed on his FetchYourNews.com show that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent, echoing claims by former President Donald Trump, who lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

Boggs cited certified records from a court in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, that showed Pritchard pleaded guilty in 1996 to felony fraud and theft involving $38,000 in forged checks relating to a construction project, and that he was ordered to pay that same amount in restitution.

Felons in Georgia lose their right to vote until they complete probation or parole.

Evidence presented in court by two senior officials of the state attorney general’s office indicated Pritchard’s probation had been extended until 2011, but he registered to vote in 2008 and voted in nine elections between then and 2010.

Pritchard testified at an evidentiary hearing in February that he didn’t knowingly commit fraud and that he believed his status as a felon who is ineligible to vote had ended more than two decades ago. He also said he believed his criminal sentence had been converted to a civil judgment, according to a copy of Boggs’ decision.

In an earlier proceeding before the State Election Board, which referred Pritchard’s case to the Georgia attorney general’s office for investigation, his attorney said Pritchard was unaware he was considered a felon when he registered and voted in Georgia.

The judge found Pritchard’s explanations to be lacking in credibility, noting that “to accept that the Respondent’s grasp of legal proceedings was so unsophisticated that he did not understand the basic terms of his probation in 1996 … this Court would need to disregard (Pritchard’s) self-described experience as a businessman handling complex projects as well as milliondollar contracts and budgets.”

“Based on the above, and upon careful consideration of the evidence in its totality the Court does not find the explanations credible or convincing,” Boggs wrote. “

Pritchard’s fine includes $500 for each of the nine times he voted illegally and $500 for illegally registering to vote in 2008. He can appeal the decision.

Neither Pritchard nor his lawyer, George Weaver Jr., could be reached for immediate comment.