Today, Free Speech For People issued letters to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and Georgia Attorney General Christopher Carr, urging both offices to investigate the “Election Crime Bureau,” a non-governmental, extremist organization founded by election-denier and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell. The private group recently posed as a law enforcement agency conducting a criminal investigation and sought to obtain sensitive information about personnel and voting systems from county election officials across Georgia. 

Around early September, the “Election Crime Bureau” emailed county election officials in Georgia concerning a state-wide “investigation” it was undertaking into voting systems. Officials who received the email and complied with the sham “investigation” were required to provide their home address, personal cell phone numbers, and information about security systems. 

The Election Crime Bureau is funded by MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, a prolific denier of the 2020 election results. The group plans to advance similar, widely debunked tactics to undermine the 2024 election, despite ongoing litigation against those who tried to tamper with voting machines based on lies about a “stolen election.” Former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters was recently sentenced to nine years in prison for allowing an affiliate of Lindell’s to unlawfully access voting machines in Colorado.  

The Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has since warned county officials about the “Election Crime Bureau.” And the Center for Internet Security, a nonprofit that develops security systems that the Election Crime Bureau misled officials to believe it was “investigating,” accused the group of impersonation and directed recipients not to respond.

It is unlawful to intimidate, harass, and threaten election workers and officials. It also is unlawful to hold oneself out as a government agency or employee. The fraudulent campaign launched by the Election Crime Bureau lured from elections officials confidential information to which it was not entitled, and which the group can use now or in the future to “dox” and intimidate officials, and to undermine Georgia’s elections. Since the 2020 election, election officials have been increasingly subjected to intimidation, threats, and harassment based on election fraud claims, like those promoted by Lindell and his group. 

The “Election Crime Bureau” is not a federal agency, has no affiliation with the government, and has no right to information about Georgia election personnel and systems,” said Free Speech For People Counsel Amira Mattar. “It cannot masquerade as a crime-fighting group and intimidate Georgia election officials so that it can set the stage to undermine the 2024 election. That’s not only illegal on several fronts; it gravely undermines our democracy.

To read our letter to the Department of Justice, click here. 

To read our letter to Georgia Attorney General Carr, click here. 

To learn more about our work to challenge voter intimidation and voter suppression, check out our election protection page.