The Coalition for Good Governance (CGG) is a left-of-center watchdog nonprofit that focuses on issues about election security and transparency. CGG’s primary activity is filing lawsuits about elections. 1 The executive director, Marilyn Marks, directs the actions CGG takes regarding its lawsuits. 2
Activities
In 2017, Coalition for Good Governance filed a lawsuit in Fulton County Superior Court seeking to overturn the results of the runoff election in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District. The lawsuit claimed that Georgia’s touchscreen voting system had severe security problems, lacked verifiable paper ballots and cannot be legally used for elections. The suit cited private cybersecurity researcher Logan Lamb, who discovered last August that a misconfigured server had left Georgia’s 6.7 million voter records and other sensitive files exposed to hackers. 3
CGG filed another lawsuit in 2018, challenging the results of the lieutenant governor’s election race between Republican Geoff Duncan and Democrat Sarah Riggs Amico. The suit was filed in Fulton County Superior Court on November 23, 2018. It argued that there may have been tens of thousands of votes that were never recorded in the election. It claims that the election could have an accurate result because of malfunctions and flaws in the electronic voting system. The suit demanded a new election for the office and that it should be conducted on paper ballots read by optical scanners. 4
CGG filed a lawsuit in 2020 against the Secretary of State of Georgia and the Georgia State Election Board to challenge multiple facilities of Georgia’s election system. The suit argued that the defendants did not take adequate voting safety measures in response to COVID-19 and that this violated equal protection and due process. The suit wanted an order that required the defendants to postpone the June elections by three weeks, allow curbside voting, replace marked paper ballots with a touchscreen, and require safer conditions for election workers among other proposals. 5 The suit was dismissed on May 14, 2020 by federal Judge Timothy Batten, who stated, “Ultimately, ordering Defendants to adopt Plaintiffs’ laundry list of so-called ‘Pandemic Voting Safety Measures’ would require the Court to micromanage the State’s election process. The relief Plaintiffs seek bears little resemblance to the type of relief plaintiffs typically seek in election cases aimed to redress state wrongs.” 6
In 2021, the CGG filed a lawsuit against the state of Georgia challenging the passage of Senate Bill 202. The suit challenged several provisions of the bill such as the photography ban and the State Election Board takeover provision. 7
People
Marilyn Marks is the vice president, executive director, and member of the board of the GG. She is a former CEO, mayoral candidate and has been politically involved in election-related issues. She currently organizes and directs the activities of the CCG’s lawsuits. 8
References
- Halpern, Sue. “Will Election Deniers Again Try to Access Voting Systems?” The New Yorker. Last modified November 8, 2022. https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/will-election-deniers-again-try-to-access-voting-systems.
- “Members of the Board of Coalition for Good Governance.” Coalition for Good Governance. Accessed February 13, 2023. https://coalitionforgoodgovernance.org/bios/.
- The Associated Press. “Colo.-Based Group Challenges Georgia Special Election Results In Court.” Colorado Public Radio. Last modified July 5, 2017. https://www.cpr.org/2017/07/05/colo-based-group-challenges-georgia-special-election-results-in-court/.
- Johnson, Chevel. “Nonprofit Challenges Georgia Lieutenant Governor’s Election.” AP News. Last modified November 24, 2018. https://apnews.com/article/b3e8f250f50244478ae3bbf19399f6ff.
- “Case: Coalition for Good Governance v. Raffensperger.” Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse. Accessed February 13, 2023. https://clearinghouse.net/case/17638/.
- “Secretary Brad Raffensperger Wins in Court, Primary Election to Move Forward on June 9.” Georgia Secretary of State. Last modified May 15, 2020. https://sos.ga.gov/news/secretary-brad-raffensperger-wins-court-primary-election-move-forward-june-9.
- “Georgia Voter Suppression Law (Coalition for Good Governance).” Democracy Docket. Last modified November 16, 2022. https://www.democracydocket.com/cases/georgia-voter-suppression-law-coalition-for-good-governance/.
- “Members of the Board of Coalition for Good Governance.” Coalition for Good Governance. Accessed February 13, 2023. https://coalitionforgoodgovernance.org/bios/.