Election workers in Georgia receive settlement over voter fraud allegations from right-wing extremist website

FULTON COUNTY, Ga. – Two former Fulton County poll workers just won a legal victory against a conservative website over false allegations that they committed voter fraud in the 2020 general election.

Fulton County poll workers Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, a mother and daughter, filed the lawsuit in 2021 against The Gateway Pundit, its owner Jim Hoft and his brother Joe Hoft, a contributor to the website. The lawsuit alleges, among other things, that the website and the Hofts conducted a “campaign of lies” that resulted in online and in-person harassment against the two women.

According to a report in the Guardian, Gateway Pundit settled the defamation lawsuit this week.

Although details of the settlement were not disclosed, the Guardian reported that nearly 20 articles cited by Freeman and Moss in the lawsuit were no longer available on The Gateway Pundit website.

“The dispute between the parties has been resolved to the mutual satisfaction of a fair and reasonable settlement,” Moss and Freeman’s legal team told the newspaper.

In their lawsuit against The Gateway Pundit, Freeman and Moss said the branch was the first port of call to name the two former Fulton County poll workers in a conspiracy to get them out and count hidden, fraudulent ballots.

The claim that “suitcases” containing ballots had been retrieved from under tables and hidden from view of observers was almost immediately debunked. But it continues to circulate among supporters of the former president and others who say the election was marred by fraud.

MORE: A Georgia poll worker says she feared for her life because of fraud lies

The Gateway Pundit and the Hofts maintained the debunked narrative, publishing stories and promoting it on social media even after they knew it had been debunked, the lawsuit says. Among other things, the lawsuit says, their stories accused Freeman and Moss of conspiring to remove observers from a room where ballots were being counted, adding illegal ballots to the count and running the same ballots through scanners multiple times let.

The falsehoods “have not only destroyed their personal and professional reputations, but have also unleashed a barrage of intimidation, harassment and threats that have forced them to change their phone numbers, delete their online accounts and fear for their physical safety.” the lawsuit says.

Freeman and Moss have also filed defamation lawsuits against right-wing cable news network One America News Network and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. They settled at OAN in 2022.

In 2023, a jury awarded the mother and daughter $148 million in damages against Giuliani. The Trump ally is trying to appeal that decision.