The Georgia secretary of state's office says it is investigating unsolicited voter registration applications mailed to deceased residents — including one addressed to a family dog named Sheba — that were traced to an organization linked to Elon Musk's America PAC.
In a Washington Examiner opinion column written from the perspective of the elections official, complaints are detailed from Georgians who received applications addressed to late parents, spouses and children "who were very obviously ineligible to register at those addresses." The mailings came from Ready to Register, described as linked to America PAC, the political action committee founded by Musk. No findings or charges have been announced.
The column draws parallels to a 2014 controversy involving the New Georgia Project, the voter registration organization founded by Stacey Abrams and later led by Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA), which raised millions of dollars ahead of that year's midterms.
What the Right Is Saying
The secretary of state's office argues that third-party organizations inserting themselves into voter registration "have a responsibility to use accurate information and obey the law." The column states: "Intentionally attempting to mislead citizens or register someone known to be ineligible is illegal, full stop," adding that consequences for deliberate violations are severe.
The official describes Georgia as verifying citizenship of voters, requiring photo identification, conducting routine list maintenance to remove registrations belonging to people who have died or relocated, testing equipment and enforcing chain-of-custody procedures. "Election integrity and voter access are not competing goals," the column states. "Georgia delivers both."
What the Left Is Saying
Abrams and the New Georgia Project argued at the time that election officials improperly rejected legitimate applications. In 2014, Abrams appeared before reporters with boxes of paperwork she said represented tens of thousands of unprocessed registrations and accused then-Secretary of State Brian Kemp's office of refusing to process them. The organization said the applications had disappeared into what it called a bureaucratic "black hole." A judge later rejected a lawsuit seeking to force election officials to add disputed applicants to Georgia's voter rolls.
After losing the 2018 gubernatorial race, Abrams declined to deliver a traditional concession and challenged the legitimacy of Georgia's electoral system. Her organization Fair Fight Action carried those claims into federal court, where they were dismissed repeatedly, according to the column.
What the Numbers Show
According to the opinion column: The New Georgia Project stated it submitted approximately 85,000 applications in its 2014 campaign. In Muscogee County alone, the elections director estimated roughly 80% of about 10,000 submitted applications contained deficiencies — including alleged forgeries, missing information, duplicates and illegible handwriting.
Eight arrests followed an occupation of the Secretary of State's office by allied activists in connection with the dispute. The column does not specify how many complaints the current investigation involves or how many mailers Ready to Register distributed; it notes that receiving a registration application "does not automatically place anyone on our voter rolls."
The Bottom Line
The investigation into the mailings traced to Ready to Register is ongoing, with no announced findings or enforcement actions. Georgia's recent history suggests such disputes can become prolonged legal and political battles: the 2014 controversy produced litigation rejected by a judge, and Abrams' subsequent election challenges were dismissed in court.
Both Democratic-aligned (the New Georgia Project) and conservative-linked (Ready to Register via America PAC) organizations have drawn scrutiny over registration practices. The column's central argument — that election integrity enforcement should apply regardless of political affiliation — will be tested by whatever the investigation finds.