Top Georgia official attempted to breach county election server, report says
LG Jones asked to send analyst to inspect county election server, emails show
A top Georgia official is being accused of attempting to breach a county election server in the aftermath of the 2020 election, a move election experts said would have been illegal if achieved.
Republican Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, then a state senator, is said to have asked the election office in his native Butts County if he could send a “forensic analyst” to inspect a critical election server in December 2020, emails obtained by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution show.
There is no evidence that servers in Butts County were tampered with, but similar attempts to compromise election equipment in Georgia have resulted in indictments and even guilty pleas. Prosecutors have connected key members of former President Donald Trump’s legal team to a security breach in rural Coffee County.
Georgia law prohibits unauthorized individuals from gaining access to county election servers. A lawyer for Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office said at the time that Jones’ effort, if successful, would have been a “huge security breach.”
Lt. Gov. Jones, who also served on the slate of phony Trump electors, has been named as a co-conspirator in the election interference case, but a judge in 2022 barred Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and her office from questioning him after the DA held a political fundraiser for his Democratic opponent. No new prosecutor has been assigned to Jones’ case yet, leaving many questions about the LG’s involvement unanswered.
Jones has pushed for tougher election laws as lieutenant governor, a role that includes serving as president of the state senate. In 2023, his first session in his new post, the Senate pushed another change that makes it illegal for election offices to accept private funds.
More voting laws are set to be passed during this election-year session, with senators taking up bills that would ban ranked-choice voting, eliminate QR codes on paper ballots and loosen Sec. Raffensperger’s grip on the state election board.
And in a preview of what might be coming in the 2026 Republican primary for governor, Jones has already started directly attacking Raffensperger on the airwaves, accusing the election chief (and his likely rival) of maintaining a limited work schedule to attend speaking engagements and appear on cable news.
“If you see Brad Raffensperger, please call the secretary of state’s office to get him back to work,” the ad said.