At a meeting in late 2020, the Georgia Republican Party acquainted itself with True the Vote, a nonprofit that describes itself as "the country's largest voters' rights organization."

The December meeting featured a discussion of True the Vote's "election integrity efforts," including training for verifying signatures and other information the nonprofit made publicly available online. An announcement followed in which True the Vote said it was "thrilled to partner" with the Georgia Republican Party to "ensure that the law is upheld and law-abiding voters have their voices heard."

Within days, True the Vote challenged the eligibility of nearly 365,000 registered Georgia voters under a process that required finding a resident in each of the state's 159 counties to contest ballots. Among the residents who helped were at least two prominent county-level leaders of the Georgia GOP, whom True the Vote founder Catherine Engelbrecht thanked for leading "the charge in recruiting hundreds of volunteer challengers across the state."

Nonprofits government watchdogs Campaign Legal Center and Common Cause Georgia complained to the Federal Election Commission. And for the FEC's legal office, it warranted an inquiry into whether the Georgia GOP illegally coordinated with True the Vote — and failed to report the nonprofit's services as in-kind contributions — during the state's 2021 Senate runoff. ...