Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office will charge David Belle Isle, who is challenging Raffensperger in the GOP primary for the top elections post, more than $100,000 to complete an open records request.
Further, Raffensperger’s office claimed producing the documents would take approximately 230 business days to complete — a timeline that conveniently places the results after the GOP primary election for secretary of state.
Without providing a deposit for the desired amount, the office would not begin to compile the records. Additionally, despite the large timeframe and cost, the office could not pledge to produce all requested materials.
The response from Raffensperger’s offices comes after Belle Isle, the former mayor of Alpharetta, filed multiple open records requests to examine documents related to the November 2020 election.
“What we’re asking for is what any reasonable person, certainly in [Raffensperger’s] shoes, should have already looked at to determine whether or not to investigate further in Georgia’s elections and determine whether they’re actually secured or if there’s fraud that needs to be found and eliminated,” Belle Isle told Breitbart News.
The requests from Belle Isle are for numerous documents related to concerns about the security of the election — including items such as signature complaints, chain of custody documents for drop boxes, and surveillance videos for drop boxes.
The primary challenger said that his office could not provide the large price tag given by the secretary of state’s office.
“We’re just going to have to be able to find it through other means. We’re not willing to put up 100-something-thousand dollars and wait till after the election to see it through,” he said. “We’re not even sure what the quality of information he would produce [would be] at that point anyways. But what we’re clearly seeing is a pattern of obstructing the truth. There’s been a roadblock at every single turn and that’s got to stop.”
Belle Isle is just one of several Republicans who is challenging Raffensperger in the GOP primary contest for his position.
— — —
Cooper Moran is a reporter for the Star News Network. Follow Cooper on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “David Belle Isle” by David Belle Isle. Background Photo “Georgia Capitol” by Ken Lund. CC BY-SA 2.0.
