A data tool developed by conservative election activists identified four voters in Forsyth County, Georgia, as deceased, leading to an attempt to challenge their ballots. ProPublica determined that all four individuals are alive, and the county election board rejected the challenge. The incident highlights the ongoing use of the ELLY Election Monitor software, created by Rick Richards, a member of the Election Integrity Network (EIN), to scrutinize voter rolls in the wake of the 2026 midterm elections.
The challenge was initiated by Max Clavijo, a member of the Forsyth County election board and a participant in the EIN, a group led by Cleta Mitchell. Mitchell, who worked with former President Donald Trump in efforts to contest the 2020 election results, has remained a central figure in movements seeking tighter federal control over voting procedures. Ahead of the midterms, EIN participants discussed using ELLY to identify suspicious voters and contest ballots in counties across the nation, particularly in states where Republicans faced losses.
What the Right Is Saying
Rick Richards, the developer of ELLY, defended the tool’s utility, dismissing accusations of unreliability as "horse hockey," a colloquial term for nonsense. Richards stated that the data is accurate and that users should interpret it as they see fit, noting that he provided the Forsyth County data at Clavijo’s request. Clavijo described his actions as an effort to "clean the voter rolls" and inform the board, rather than a formal challenge to the election’s certification. Supporters of the initiative argue that identifying potential irregularities is a necessary step in ensuring election security, even if individual flags prove to be false positives.
What the Left Is Saying
Voting rights organizations and Democratic officials argue that tools like ELLY are error-prone and contribute to voter suppression. They point to instances such as a complaint from the Cherokee County election director, who noted that ELLY falsely flagged a county board member’s spouse as dead. Critics emphasize that the software lacks critical personal identifiers, such as Social Security numbers or full dates of birth, increasing the likelihood of mismatches for individuals with common names. These groups contend that the reliance on such data without human verification undermines public trust in election integrity.
What the Numbers Show
In Forsyth County, Clavijo questioned the accuracy of names for more than 22,000 people on the voter roll and disputed the eligibility of 69 voters based on ELLY data. The specific allegations included four voters claimed to be deceased, while others were alleged to have moved out of the county or state, had voter ID irregularities, or registered under fictitious names. ProPublica’s verification confirmed that the four voters flagged as dead were alive. The EIN has outlined plans to provide data from more than 3,000 counties to "citizen monitors" and GOP candidates, according to a recording of a private call reviewed by ProPublica.
The Bottom Line
The Forsyth County incident illustrates the tension between election integrity initiatives and voting access concerns as conservative groups continue to leverage data tools to contest election outcomes. While the board rejected the specific challenge to the four voters, the broader campaign to use ELLY for voter roll audits persists. The outcome in Georgia, where Democrats swept statewide offices, has intensified efforts by groups like the EIN to scrutinize vote counts and voter eligibility. Future applications of ELLY in other jurisdictions will likely face similar scrutiny regarding data accuracy and the potential impact on certified election results.