ATLANTA — A Georgia Republican Party official was fined after a state administrative judge determined he'd voted illegally nine times in 2008 and 2010 while on probation for a felony conviction in another state.
The official, Georgia GOP First Vice Chairman Brian Pritchard, maintained that he wasn't aware he was still on probation from a 1996 Pennsylvania case when he voted four times in 2008 and five times in 2010 before his probation term ceased in 2011.
But the administrative judge, Judge Lisa Boggs, wrote that "the Court does not find Respondent's (Pritchard's) explanations credible or convincing."
11Alive reached out to the Georgia GOP for comment. The State Election Board brought the case.
According to a copy of the administrative ruling, which you can find at the bottom of this story, the heart of the issue were forgery and theft convictions for Pritchard over $38,000 deposited into his account for a construction contract in 1996.
He was ultimately convicted in that case and sentenced to three years' probation. However it was extended another three years in 1999, according to the judge's findings, two more years when that period ended in 2002, and a further seven years when that period ended in 2004.
Pritchard stated he believed the case was essentially settled after his first return to court in 1999. He said in the hearing he didn't appear in court in Pennsylvania on either of the subsequent two occasions, 2002 or 2004, and didn't have legal counsel in either proceeding.
However, Judge Boggs noted that Pennsylvania court records indicated he did in fact appear for those proceedings.
Pritchard also argued he had not entered a guilty plea, but a plea of no contest in 1996, that his criminal conviction had in fact been adjudicated as a civil judgment, and that the Pennsylvania court "unlawfully issued orders extending his probation." He also referred to his 2017 restoration of rights, such as gun possession, by the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles that listed his Pennsylvania case as "closed" in 1999. . Judge Boggs found all of this either contradicted by Pennsylvania court records or otherwise insufficient.
The order states:
Should this Court accept the Respondent’s explanations that he genuinely believed his felony sentence had resolved as early as 1996 or 1999, it would have to discount such facts as (i) the Respondent conceding he was in court in March 1999, which resulted in an order revoking his probation, reinstating a three-year probation sentence, and ordering restitution payments; and (ii) the Allegheny court documenting that he was present in court in both 2002 and 2004, with the latter proceeding leading to a seven-year extension of his probation, through at least April 2011. To accept the Respondents’ explanation that he had no knowledge of the court proceedings and subsequent orders from 2002 and 2004, this court would have to disregard the Allegheny court’s certified records indicating that the Respondent did appear. To accept the Respondent’s explanation that he believed his criminal sentence had been converted to a civil judgment, the Court would need to overlook the fact that none of the certified orders or records from the Allegheny court mention such a conversion.
According to the court order, Pritchard voted while on probation for the Pennsylvania case on the following dates and in the following elections:
- July 15, 2008; Georgia general primary
- August 5, 2008; Georgia general primary runoff
- November 4, 2008; Georgia general election
- December 2, 2008; Georgia general election runoff
- May 11, 2010; special election
- June 8, 2010; special election
- July 20, 2010; Georgia general primary
- August 10, 2010; Georgia general primary
- November 2, 2010; Georgia general election
He was registered in Gilmer County. A complaint was also filed with that county's Board of Elections regarding Pritchard in 2014, alleging he'd voted while still serving the Pennsylvania sentence, and in May 2014 he submitted a handwritten request to Gilmer election officials to be removed from the voter rolls. According to the court order, he said in the hearing he did that "because I did not want to be doing something unbeknownst to me that could -- could be considered wrong."
As part of the order, Pritchard was ordered to cease and desist from committing further Georgia election violations and ordered to pay a civil penalty of $5,000 to the State Election Board -- $500 for registering to vote in the first place in 2008 when he moved to Georgia, and another $500 for each of the nine voting violations -- as well as pay the Board $375.14 in investigative costs.
He is also to be publicly reprimanded as part of the order.
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