Georgia’s secretary of state office on Feb. 2 launched an investigation into whether Lin Wood, a lawyer who filed third-party lawsuits on behalf of former President Donald Trump’s election challenges, voted illegally in the 2020 election, according to reports.
The probe into Wood was first reported by WSB-TV, with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office later confirming to several news outlets, including The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, that an investigation has been launched into whether the prominent attorney was eligible to vote in Georgia when he cast his ballot in the November election.
According to WSB-TV, Wood sent an email to the outlet’s investigative reporter Justin Gray, in which he reportedly wrote that he has been “domiciled in South Carolina for several months after purchasing property in the state in April.” According to Georgia law, if someone moves to another state, they lose residency status in Georgia, and only lawful residents are allowed to cast votes in the state.
However, Wood said in a post on his Telegram channel on Feb. 1 that he only changed his residency to South Carolina on Feb. 1 and, prior to that, he lived in Georgia for 65 years.
“I have changed my legal residence from the State of Georgia to the State of South Carolina!” Wood announced in the Telegram message, adding that he is “thrilled” about the move.
“I have lived in Georgia since I was 3 years old (65 years). I still love the Peach State but Georgia has deteriorated over the years to become one of the most corrupt states in the country, if not the most corrupt,” he wrote.
“Every state has problems. Like individuals, states are imperfect. But Georgia has spun out of control and is heavily influenced by the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] through corrupt state officials.”
Raffensperger’s office told NBC in an emailed statement that the probe is seeking to determine whether Wood was “a legal resident when he voted in November in light of an email he sent to [WSB-TV reporter] Justin Gray saying he has been domiciled in South Carolina for several months.”
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger holds a press conference on the status of ballot counting in Atlanta on Nov. 6, 2020. Jessica McGowan/Getty Images
Wood told WSB-TV that the probe is “pure harassment by the Georgia secretary of state because I have revealed credible evidence of election fraud on the part of Brad Raffensperger.”
“They’re trying to destroy me because I’m revealing a level of corruption from top to bottom,” Wood said in separate remarks to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Brad Raffensperger’s got a lot of problems with people who were not legitimate citizens of Georgia. I’m not one of them.”
Wood’s announcement that he was moving to South Carolina came after the State Bar of Georgia informed him that he would have to undergo and submit a mental health evaluation to keep his license to practice law, which Wood refused to do.
“I have done nothing wrong. I have only exercised my right of free speech,” Wood wrote in a post on Jan. 29. “I will not allow the State Bar to persecute me for doing so and thereby violate my Constitutional rights.”
Wood made news headlines in late 2020 after he filed lawsuits in Georgia against alleged election fraud following the 2020 November election. In an interview with The Epoch Times’ “Crossroads” in December 2020, Wood said that courts were dismissing evidence of election fraud because the judges were compromised or threatened, and the CCP was ultimately behind the phenomenon.
Mimi Nguyen-Ly contributed to this report.
Tom Ozimek
Reporter
Tom Ozimek is a senior reporter for The Epoch Times. He has a broad background in journalism, deposit insurance, marketing and communications, and adult education.
