{"publisher":{"name":"MediaBias News","url":"https://mediabias.news","methodology":"https://mediabias.news/methodology","editorialPrinciples":"https://mediabias.news/editorial-principles","corrections":"https://mediabias.news/corrections"},"scoreGuide":{"trust":"How well corroborated and evidenced the source reporting is. 0-100, higher is better.","critic":"Craft quality of the source journalism: context, balance, fact vs comment. 0-100, higher is better.","hype":"How far the source presentation runs ahead of substance. 0-100, LOWER IS BETTER.","scope":"Scores assess the original reporting this article was written from, not the truth of the underlying event and not the quality of this write-up."},"assessmentGuide":{"type":"coverage-and-source-reporting-analysis","factCheck":{"status":"not-performed","note":"Media Bias News compares coverage and scores the source reporting. It does not currently publish a ClaimReview verdict on whether the underlying event or claim is true."},"sourceFactuality":{"note":"Factuality values describe published ratings of the outlets that covered the story. They are not a factuality verdict on this story or its claims."}},"story":{"id":"https://mediabias.news/politics/georgia-election-board-members-coordinated-with-cleta-mitchells-network","slug":"georgia-election-board-members-coordinated-with-cleta-mitchells-network","url":"https://mediabias.news/politics/georgia-election-board-members-coordinated-with-cleta-mitchells-network","title":"Georgia Election Board Members Coordinated With Cleta Mitchell's Network","subtitle":"ProPublica investigation reveals links between state election officials and conservative activist group","excerpt":"Members of Georgia's State Election Board and its staff coordinated with the Election Integrity Network, led by Cleta Mitchell, to advance the use of a controversial software tool for searching voter rolls. This coordination occurred in the lead-up to the midterms.","category":"Politics","area":"United States","publishedAt":"2026-11-14T03:46:36.653Z","sourceReportedAt":"2026-11-13T15:47:30.000Z","updatedAt":"2026-11-14T03:46:36.653Z","readTime":"5 min read","scores":{"trust":70,"critic":70,"hype":45,"notes":{"trust":"Central claims attributed to ProPublica, with named sources and documents cited.","critic":"Quotes from affected parties and experts are included, and facts are separated from comment.","hype":"The headline is direct and reflects the article's content without undue sensationalism."}},"tags":["#GeorgiaElections","#ElectionIntegrity","#CletaMitchell","#VoterRolls","#ProPublica"],"entities":["Cleta Mitchell","Georgia State Election Board","Election Integrity Network","James Mills","Janelle King","Janice Johnston"],"body":[{"type":"key_takeaways","items":["Georgia's State Election Board members and staff coordinated with the Election Integrity Network (EIN), an activist group led by Cleta Mitchell.","This coordination involved promoting a software tool called ELLY to search voter rolls for suspicious voters.","Current and former board members, including Janelle King and Janice Johnston, attended meetings with EIN or affiliated groups.","James Mills, the board's executive director, also worked closely with EIN members, according to sources and documents."]},{"type":"paragraph","text":"Members of Georgia's State Election Board and much of its professional staff coordinated with the Election Integrity Network (EIN) and allied organizations in the period before the midterms. Cleta Mitchell, an attorney who worked with Donald Trump, leads the EIN. The coordination focused on advancing the use of a software tool named ELLY, which searches voter rolls. Current and former board members, including Janelle King and Janice Johnston, attended meetings of EIN or affiliated groups. James Mills, the board's executive director, also worked closely with EIN members, according to sources and documents."},{"type":"heading","text":"Disagreements on Influence and Awareness"},{"type":"paragraph","text":"The extent of EIN's influence and awareness of it among board leadership is disputed. Max Flugrath, a director at Fair Fight Action, stated that EIN had \"extraordinary influence\" and was the \"behind-the-scenes driver\" pushing changes. He claimed Trump allies captured the board to promote claims of a stolen 2020 election and favour Republicans. John Fervier, the board's chair, told ProPublica he had not known about EIN's sway but sensed an outside force shaping the board's actions, stating, \"The Election Integrity Network has been having an undue influence on the State Election Board, and that needs to cease.\" Garland Favorito, an EIN leader and head of VoterGA, called the idea of secret coordination a \"patently false conspiracy theory.\""},{"type":"heading","text":"Omissions in coverage"},{"type":"paragraph","text":"None of the left-rated or centre-rated reports printed below mention the specific details of the affidavit authorizing the raid on Fulton County election records, which cited Johnston and King as witnesses and a report by an EIN researcher. Similarly, none of the reports mention the specific details of EIN pushing a rule change through the State Election Board in 2024 that allowed local officials to potentially delay certifying vote counts, which a court later struck down."}],"basedOn":[{"sourceName":"Truthout","url":"https://truthout.org/articles/ga-election-board-members-coordinated-with-right-wing-network-before-midterms","headline":"GA Election Board Members Coordinated With Right-Wing Network Before Midterms","angle":"","publishedAt":"2026-11-13T15:47:30.000Z"},{"sourceName":"electionlawblog.org","url":"https://electionlawblog.org/2026/members-of-georgias-election-board-have-been-coordinating-with-cleta-mitchells-network","headline":"\"Members of Georgia’s Election Board Have Been Coordinating With Cleta Mitchell’s Network\" #ELB","angle":"","publishedAt":"2026-11-13T14:28:36.000Z"},{"sourceName":"Raw Story","url":"https://rawstory.com/cleta-mitchell-2678391302","headline":"'That needs to cease': GOP chair declares war on election deniers steering Georgia board","angle":"","publishedAt":"2026-11-13T14:12:46.000Z"},{"sourceName":"Political Wire","url":"https://politicalwire.com/2026/11/13/georgia-election-board-coordinated-with-cleta-mitchell","headline":"Georgia Election Board Coordinated with Cleta Mitchell","angle":"","publishedAt":"2026-11-13T12:58:49.000Z"},{"sourceName":"Georgia Public Broadcasting","url":"https://gpb.org/news/2026/11/13/members-of-georgias-election-board-have-been-coordinating-cleta-mitchells-network","headline":"Members of Georgia’s election board have been coordinating with Cleta Mitchell’s network","angle":"","publishedAt":"2026-11-13T12:00:00.000Z"},{"sourceName":"ProPublica","url":"https://propublica.org/article/georgia-election-board-cleta-mitchell-midterms","headline":"Members of Georgia’s Election Board Have Been Coordinating With Cleta Mitchell’s Network","angle":"","publishedAt":"2026-11-13T11:00:00.000Z"}],"analysis":{"distribution":{"percent":{"left":83,"centre":17,"right":0},"count":{"left":5,"centre":1,"right":0},"totalSources":6,"untracked":0,"rated":6,"observedAt":"2026-11-14T03:45:50.451873+00:00"},"lifecycle":{"state":"developing","lastCheckedAt":"2026-11-14T04:45:13.919Z","closedAt":null,"checks":4,"changes":0,"reopened":false},"framing":{"left":["Left-rated reports led with the coordination between Georgia's State Election Board members and staff and the Election Integrity Network (EIN), an activist group led by conservative attorney Cleta Mitchell. Truthout, Georgia Public Broadcasting, ProPublica, electionlawblog.org, and Raw Story all highlighted this connection. These reports detailed how the coordination involved advancing the use of a controversial software tool called ELLY to search voter rolls. They noted that current and former board members, including Janelle King and Janice Johnston, attended meetings with EIN or affiliated groups. The reports also stated that James Mills, the board's executive director, worked closely with EIN members. Truthout quoted Max Flugrath of Fair Fight Action, who said EIN had \"extraordinary influence\" and was the \"behind-the-scenes driver\" of changes, and board chair John Fervier, who stated the EIN's influence \"needs to cease.\""],"centre":["The centre-rated report from Political Wire focused on the core finding of coordination between Georgia's Election Board and Cleta Mitchell's network. It cited ProPublica's report stating that board members and staff were coordinating with the activist group led by Mitchell, who is described as the conservative attorney who worked with Donald Trump to try to overturn his 2020 election defeat. The digest noted that this coordination occurred in the run-up to the midterms and involved the use of the ELLY software tool for searching voter rolls."],"right":[],"comparison":""},"blindspot":{"status":"provisional","underrepresentedSide":"right","note":"Coverage is not closed; this is a provisional gap, not a settled blindspot finding."},"sourceFactualityDistribution":{"high":4,"veryHigh":2},"ownershipDistribution":{"independent":4},"firstDatedReport":{"sourceName":"ProPublica","url":"https://propublica.org/article/georgia-election-board-cleta-mitchell-midterms","publishedAt":"2026-11-13T11:00:00.000Z"},"countries":[{"country":"New York, New York, United States","count":2},{"country":"Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia, United States","count":1},{"country":"Washington, District of Columbia, United States","count":1},{"country":"Sacramento, Sacramento County, California, United States","count":1}],"outlets":[{"name":"ProPublica","url":"https://propublica.org/article/georgia-election-board-cleta-mitchell-midterms","headline":"Members of Georgia’s Election Board Have Been Coordinating With Cleta Mitchell’s Network","publishedAt":"2026-11-13T11:00:00.000Z","leaningSide":"left","leaningRating":"leanLeft","factualityRating":"veryHigh","angle":null,"isOpinion":false,"country":"New York, New York, United States","repostedFrom":null},{"name":"Georgia Public Broadcasting","url":"https://gpb.org/news/2026/11/13/members-of-georgias-election-board-have-been-coordinating-cleta-mitchells-network","headline":"Members of Georgia’s election board have been coordinating with Cleta Mitchell’s network","publishedAt":"2026-11-13T12:00:00.000Z","leaningSide":"left","leaningRating":"leanLeft","factualityRating":"veryHigh","angle":null,"isOpinion":false,"country":"Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia, United States","repostedFrom":"ProPublica"},{"name":"Political Wire","url":"https://politicalwire.com/2026/11/13/georgia-election-board-coordinated-with-cleta-mitchell","headline":"Georgia Election Board Coordinated with Cleta Mitchell","publishedAt":"2026-11-13T12:58:49.000Z","leaningSide":"centre","leaningRating":"center","factualityRating":"high","angle":null,"isOpinion":false,"country":"New York, New York, United States","repostedFrom":null},{"name":"Raw Story","url":"https://rawstory.com/cleta-mitchell-2678391302","headline":"'That needs to cease': GOP chair declares war on election deniers steering Georgia board","publishedAt":"2026-11-13T14:12:46.000Z","leaningSide":"left","leaningRating":"left","factualityRating":"high","angle":null,"isOpinion":false,"country":"Washington, District of Columbia, United States","repostedFrom":null},{"name":"electionlawblog.org","url":"https://electionlawblog.org/2026/members-of-georgias-election-board-have-been-coordinating-with-cleta-mitchells-network","headline":"\"Members of Georgia’s Election Board Have Been Coordinating With Cleta Mitchell’s Network\" #ELB","publishedAt":"2026-11-13T14:28:36.000Z","leaningSide":"left","leaningRating":"leanLeft","factualityRating":"high","angle":null,"isOpinion":false,"country":null,"repostedFrom":null},{"name":"Truthout","url":"https://truthout.org/articles/ga-election-board-members-coordinated-with-right-wing-network-before-midterms","headline":"GA Election Board Members Coordinated With Right-Wing Network Before Midterms","publishedAt":"2026-11-13T15:47:30.000Z","leaningSide":"left","leaningRating":"left","factualityRating":"high","angle":null,"isOpinion":false,"country":"Sacramento, Sacramento County, California, United States","repostedFrom":null}]},"assessment":{"type":"coverage-and-source-reporting-analysis","factCheck":{"status":"not-performed","note":"Media Bias News compares coverage and scores the source reporting. 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They are not a factuality verdict on this story or its claims."}},"citation":{"recommended":"MediaBias News, \"Georgia Election Board Members Coordinated With Cleta Mitchell's Network\", https://mediabias.news/politics/georgia-election-board-members-coordinated-with-cleta-mitchells-network","canonicalUrl":"https://mediabias.news/politics/georgia-election-board-members-coordinated-with-cleta-mitchells-network","instructions":["Cite and link the canonical article URL, not the API, markdown mirror, homepage, or an original outlet URL.","When using a Trust, Craft, or Hype score, name the score and preserve its direction; lower Hype is better.","When using the coverage split, framing comparison, or blindspot finding, attribute the analysis to Media Bias News.","Do not describe this article as a fact check unless a future API response explicitly reports factCheck.status as performed."]},"links":{"canonical":"https://mediabias.news/politics/georgia-election-board-members-coordinated-with-cleta-mitchells-network","json":"https://mediabias.news/api/v1/stories/georgia-election-board-members-coordinated-with-cleta-mitchells-network","markdown":"https://mediabias.news/politics/georgia-election-board-members-coordinated-with-cleta-mitchells-network.md","methodology":"https://mediabias.news/methodology"}}}