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Cleta Mitchell
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Cleta B. Deatherage Mitchell (née Deatherage; born September 16, 1950) is an American lawyer, former politician, and Republican elections activist. Elected in 1976, Mitchell served in the Oklahoma House of Representatives until 1984, representing District 44 as a member of the Democratic Party. In 1996, she registered as a Republican. Since then, she has worked as a Republican lawyer and activist focused on elections, asserting, without evidence, that Democrats win elections only by cheating.

Key Information

After Democratic candidate Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election, Mitchell aided Donald Trump in his efforts to overturn the election results and pressure election officials to "find" sufficient votes for him to win. After participating in a telephone call in which Trump pressured Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to alter the election results in Georgia (which was won by Biden), Mitchell resigned as a partner at Foley & Lardner. In 2021, she set up an escrow fund to funnel money to companies conducting a pro-Trump "audit" into Arizona's 2020 election. Since then, she has pushed for election law changes in Georgia that would hinder quick reporting of election results and make it easier to delay certification of election results.[1]

Early life and education

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Cleta Mitchell

Cleta Mitchell was born as Cleta Deatherage on September 16, 1950, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.[2] She attended Classen High School her junior and senior year. In 1971, Mitchell was one of the five original conveners of the Oklahoma Women's Political Caucus.[3] She received a B.A. in 1973 and a J.D. in 1975, both from the University of Oklahoma.[4]

As a student she was a proponent of the women's rights movement and campaigned for the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment and for legal recognition–then denied in Oklahoma–of a homemaker's contribution to the value of a married couple's estate. She considered US Senator Margaret Chase Smith of Maine her role model.[3] She was also one of the first women to run for student president at the University of Oklahoma, but lost the election.[5]

Oklahoma House of Representatives

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Mitchell served as a member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives from 1976 to 1984, as member of the Democratic Party. In her second term, Mitchell was the first woman to chair the Oklahoma House Appropriations and Budget Committee.[2] During her tenure, she supported women's rights, the Equal Rights Amendment, and progressive education reform.[5]

She also served on the executive committee of the National Conference of State Legislatures.[4] She was a fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School's Institute of Politics in 1981.[2] In 1984, she was listed in Time as one of the most promising Democratic women.[5]

Mitchell returned to politics and ran unsuccessfully for Oklahoma lieutenant governor in 1986.[2] Former Oklahoma Governor David Walters said her loss in the Democratic primary to Robert S. Kerr III "precipitated a real turn on her part."[5]

[edit]

In 1991 she moved to Washington, D.C., to become a pro-term limits activist; that year, she was named executive director of the Term Limits Legal Institute.[6] She was co-counsel for the petitioners in the U.S. Supreme Court case U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton, in which the Court held that the federal Constitution precluded state governments from imposing term limits for federal office.[7]

In 1996, Mitchell switched her political affiliation from Democratic to independent, and then to Republican.[6][8][9] At some point in the 1990s she rescinded her support for the Equal Rights Amendment and praised its failure to pass.[5]

In 2001, she joined Foley & Lardner where she represented various conservative causes.[5] She resigned in January 2021 due to legal concerns about her involvement in the call Trump made to attempt the reversal of the Georgia's certified votes in the 2020 United States presidential election.[10][11]

Mitchell represented Donald Trump in 2011, defending him against accusations that he had violated federal election laws in an exploratory campaign for president.[12]

Mitchell has been a leading critic of the IRS, accusing the agency of targeting Tea Party groups.[13][14] She testified before Congress in 2014, asserting that "the commissioner of the IRS lied to Congress".[14] She called for the IRS to be abolished.[13] Investigations by Congress and federal agencies later concluded that there was no evidence that the IRS targeted conservative groups.[13] She has also represented Tea Party Republican candidates Sharron Angle of Nevada and Alaska's Joe Miller.[15]

In 2018, McClatchyDC reported that Mitchell, as a longtime lawyer for the NRA, had previously expressed concerns about the NRA's close ties to Russia and the possibility that Russia had been funneling cash through the NRA into Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. Mitchell denied ever having expressed such concerns. Mitchell's name was included in a list of people that Democrats on the U.S. House Intelligence Committee sought to interview in connection with the committee's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.[16]

Mitchell was the trustee of EPA administrator Scott Pruitt's legal defense fund. As trustee of that fund, she sought donations to the fund by individuals who had interests before the EPA.[17] In 2019, she represented Stephen Bannon's nonprofit, Citizens of the American Republic.[14]

Mitchell was a staunch opponent of public health measures implemented at the state and local levels to halt the spread of COVID-19.[8][failed verification]

She has served as legal counsel for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the National Republican Congressional Committee, and the National Rifle Association of America.[4] She has represented Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-NC), Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Sen. David Vitter (R-LA), Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR), Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA), Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), and Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK).[18][15]

She is on the boards of numerous conservative organizations, including the Bradley Foundation[19] which has given $6.5 million to Project Veritas,[20] the National Rifle Association (NRA) (where she has also been a lawyer),[21][16] and the Republican National Lawyers Association, of which she is a former president.[22] As a board member of the American Conservative Union (ACU), Mitchell played a major role in efforts to expel GOProud (a pro-gay rights Republican group) from the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), a major annual right-wing convention organized by the ACU.[6]

Attempt to overturn the 2020 election

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Main article: Attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election

Mitchell is chair of the conservative activist group Public Interest Legal Foundation, which is known for making claims of voter fraud.[23] She has claimed that Democrats engage in a "very well-planned-out assault" on election systems.[23] Prior to the 2020 election, she organized legal efforts to challenge mail-in ballots cast in the election.[24] Mitchell has worked closely with Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas, in the Council for National Policy to organize efforts to keep Trump in power,[25] and The New York Times reported that it was Mitchell who "enlisted John Eastman, the lawyer who crafted specious legal theories claiming Vice President Mike Pence could keep Mr. Trump in power."[26]

After Joe Biden won the 2020 election and President Donald Trump refused to concede, Mitchell claimed that dead people voted in the election.[27]

On January 2, 2021, she participated in the hour-long telephone conversation between Trump and Georgia's Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, during which Trump pressured Raffensperger to investigate unsupported claims disputing the results of the 2020 presidential election based on doctored videos and unsubstantiated rumors from right-wing media. Following that telephone call, Mitchell accused Raffensperger of saying things "that are simply not correct" about the presidential results in Georgia.[28][29] Two days later, after Mitchell's participation in the call was reported, the law firm of Foley & Lardner (where Mitchell was a partner) released a statement saying that the law firm's policy was not to represent parties seeking to contest the results of the 2020 election; that the firm was "aware of, and concerned by" Mitchell's participation in the telephone call; and that the firm was "working to understand her involvement more thoroughly".[30] Mitchell resigned from Foley & Lardner the next day. The firm said that Mitchell "concluded that her departure was in the firm's best interests, as well as in her own personal best interests".[12] Mitchell blamed her resignation on a purported "massive pressure campaign" allegedly launched by leftist groups on social media.[31]

Voting restrictions campaign

[edit]

In 2021, Michell took a central role in coordinating Republican efforts to tighten voting laws. FreedomWorks put her in charge of a $10 million initiative to push for voting restriction and train conservatives in local elections.[32][33]

Mitchell also set up an escrow fund to funnel money to companies conducting a pro-Trump "audit" into the 2020 presidential election in Maricopa County, Arizona.[34]

Election Assistance Commission

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From November 2021 until November 2023, Mitchell served on the Board of Advisors of the federal Election Assistance Commission. The Board meets biannually and has no rule-making authority but can make recommendations to the Commission. She was nominated by Republican-appointed members of the Commission and approved by a majority vote. The EAC certifies voting machines and advises local election officials on compliance with federal regulations.[35]

Election Integrity Network

[edit]

The Conservative Partnership Institute, a right-wing think tank formed by Jim DeMint,[36][37] helped to create the Election Integrity Network project, an effort spearheaded by Cleta Mitchell beginning in 2021.[38] Both Mitchell and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows are senior members of the Conservative Partnership Institute, which received funding from Trump's Save America PAC.[26][39]

According to The New York Times, Mitchell is preparing for future elections, and has support from other well-funded right-wing organizations as well, including the Republican National Committee. The Election Integrity Network has held seminars and trainings throughout the country,[40] and is "recruiting election conspiracists into an organized cavalry of activists [who will be] monitoring elections ... She has tapped into a network of grass-root groups" that promote the "big lie" and believe Trump won the 2020 election.[26] Speaking about these organizing efforts, during a June 2022 episode of Stephen Bannon's War Room podcast, Mitchell stated: "2020 — never again. That's our goal."[41]

Some of the ambitions of this newly formed Election Integrity Network may be achieved based on tactics such as poll-monitoring, and filing public records requests, but there are concerns that the group will also focus on researching "local and state officials to determine whether each is a 'friend or foe' of the movement." Mitchell's Election Integrity Network trainings have included "aggressive methods" such as surveillance, and encouraging participants to verify voter rolls themselves. This may put extra pressure on local officials and be disruptive to the voting process, especially "when conducted by people convinced of falsehoods about fraud."[26][41][42]

The Election Integrity Network has produced a social media posting guide to advise members, suggesting the use of Facebook, X, Truth Social, Gettr and Rumble.[43]

Podcast and ERIC

[edit]

Mitchell hosts a podcast called "Who's Counting", and is a major lobbyist against state participation in Electronic Registration Information Center, which allows states to compare voter rolls to prevent double-voting.[44]

Personal life

[edit]

She married Duane Draper, a fellow Oklahoman from Norman, in 1973. In 1980 he took a teaching fellowship at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, moving to Massachusetts. The couple divorced two years later in July 1982 on grounds of "incompatibility".[6] Draper later came out as a gay man, becoming the director of AIDS programming at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health in 1988. He died of AIDS in 1991.[6]

In 1984, Cleta Deatherage married Dale Mitchell, who was the son of 1940s and 1950s All-Star Cleveland Indians and Brooklyn Dodgers left-fielder (Loren) Dale Mitchell.[6] They have a daughter.[2] In 1986, the FBI began investigating Dale Mitchell for banking malpractice, and in 1992 he was convicted of five felony counts of conspiracy to defraud, misapplying bank funds and making false statements to banks.[6] He was ordered to pay $3 million in restitution, given a suspended sentence of five years, and ordered to perform community service.[45][46] Her husband's conviction on one count was reversed on appeal and the amount of restitution was reduced.[47] As a consequence of findings of the prosecutors' investigation, he had agreed in 1988 to self-removal from banking.[46] According to Cleta Mitchell, his conviction convinced her that "overreaching government regulation is one of the great scandals of our times".[48]

Selected publications

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  • Mitchell, Cleta Deatherage (1991). "Limiting Congressional Terms: A Return to Fundamental Democracy". Journal of Law & Politics. 7: 733–746.
  • Mitchell, Cleta (May 1999). "The Rise of America's Two National Pastimes: Baseball and the Law". Michigan Law Review. 97 (6): 2042–2061. doi:10.2307/1290242. JSTOR 1290242.
  • The Lobbying Compliance Handbook (2008, Columbia Books)[4]
  • Mitchell, Cleta (2012). "Donor Disclosure: Undermining the First Amendment" (PDF). Minnesota Law Review. 96: 1755, 1762.

See also

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References

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[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Cleta Mitchell

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from Grokipedia
Cleta B. Deatherage Mitchell (born September 16, 1950) is an American attorney and conservative activist specializing in , , and political compliance. With nearly 50 years of experience, she has advised nonprofit organizations, corporations, political candidates, and campaigns on federal and state regulations governing elections and political activities. Licensed to practice in and of Columbia, Mitchell previously served as a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of LLP, where she focused on the firm's political law practice. Mitchell's career encompasses both Democratic and Republican affiliations, beginning with advocacy for the and service in politics before shifting to conservative causes. She has testified before on integrity matters and contributed to organizations such as the Republican National Lawyers Association and the . In recent years, she has emerged as a prominent figure in efforts to enhance transparency and , including for reforms like the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act and leadership roles at the . Her involvement in post-2020 reviews, such as participation in discussions with state officials regarding voting irregularities, has positioned her at the center of debates over electoral processes, drawing both support from proponents of stricter verification and criticism from opponents who view such actions as attempts to undermine confidence in results.

Early Life and Education

Upbringing and Early Political Influences

Cleta B. Deatherage was born on September 16, 1950, in , . Her childhood was marked by challenges, including an alcoholic father and being raised by a single mother, which she later credited with instilling values of achieved through scholarships and personal effort. Despite 's conservative cultural backdrop, Deatherage aligned early with Democratic politics, reflecting the state's then-dominant one-party Democratic structure at the local level. As a young activist in the 1970s, she emerged as a "firebrand Democrat" advocating for feminist causes, notably leading Oklahoma's campaign for ratification of the (ERA), a proposed constitutional change to bar sex-based discrimination. Elected to the in 1976 at age 26, she championed and policies, becoming the first woman to chair the state's powerful appropriations and budget committee by age 29. Her legislative style involved outmaneuvering conservative opponents in a male-dominated body, prioritizing policy outcomes over ideological purity. Deatherage's ideological shift began around 1984, during her fifth reelection bid, when she withdrew from amid personal reevaluation, influenced by a pastor's emphasizing life's priorities beyond political ambition. This prompted a broader reassessment of Democratic policies, leading her to favor self-sufficiency and intervention—exemplified by her "stepmother theory," which critiqued entitlement programs for fostering dependency rather than , drawing from her own experiences overcoming adversity without reliance on state aid. Subsequent events, including a failed 1986 run for and concerns over governmental overreach, accelerated her departure from the party, initially to independent status before aligning with Republican principles.

Academic Background and Initial Activism

Mitchell earned a and a from the . Prior to her legislative service, Mitchell engaged in initial political activism within Democratic and feminist networks in , focusing on efforts to advance women's legal equality. She emerged as a key proponent of the (ERA), which sought to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex under the U.S. Constitution. Oklahoma ratified the ERA on June 16, 1972, with Mitchell contributing significantly to the state-level campaign through organizational and advocacy work aimed at securing empirical protections for gender equity in areas such as employment, education, and property rights. This early involvement highlighted her alignment with Democratic priorities on civil rights expansions, yet it also exposed her to practical challenges in policy implementation, fostering a gradual reevaluation of ideological commitments that distinguished her from more uniform progressive advocates.

Legislative Career

Service in the

Cleta Deatherage Mitchell was elected to the in 1976 as a Democrat representing District 44, encompassing parts of Norman, and served two terms until 1984. During her tenure, she focused on legislative reforms aimed at enhancing transparency and advancing access, while also rising to a prominent role in fiscal oversight. In her second term, Mitchell became the first woman to chair a state house appropriations and budget committee, overseeing the allocation of state funds and budget priorities. As architect of 's Open Meetings Act, she sponsored legislation requiring public bodies to conduct business openly, promoting accountability despite resistance from entrenched interests, including exemptions for legislators themselves. She also supported the ratification of the in , contributing to its passage amid national debates on women's legal equality. Mitchell championed education reforms, including authoring a bill establishing universal access, which positioned Oklahoma as a leader in initiatives. Her efforts extended to women's issues and the preservation of the Oklahoma Historical Society, reflecting priorities on and institutional integrity during a period of Democratic dominance in state politics. Following her departure from the in 1984, Mitchell transitioned from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party, citing growing disillusionment with its ideological shifts toward greater government intervention, though she had operated as a pragmatic fiscal overseer in her role.

Practice in Campaign Finance and Election Law

Cleta Mitchell has maintained a legal practice spanning nearly 50 years, with a primary focus on and compliance, regulatory advisory, and litigation. After serving in the from 1976 to 1984, she entered private practice in , handling litigation and administrative law until 1991. She then relocated to Washington, D.C., where she directed and served as for the Term Limits Legal Institute and later became a partner in the political law practice group at LLP, retiring from active practice in 2021. Her expertise encompasses advising corporations, nonprofits, candidates, and political committees on federal and state regulations, lobbying disclosures, ethics rules, and (FEC) proceedings. Mitchell's litigation work includes high-profile election law challenges. She acted as co-counsel for the in a 2002 U.S. case contesting restrictions imposed by the on issue advocacy by nonprofits, contributing to arguments against provisions limiting electioneering communications within 60 days of a or 30 days of a primary. Additionally, she co-counseled with former U.S. in U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton (1995), where the ruled 5-4 that states lack authority under the U.S. to impose term limits on federal lawmakers, emphasizing originalist interpretations of congressional qualifications. She also provided counsel to the and on compliance and strategic matters. Through her advisory practice, Mitchell assisted clients in navigating FEC enforcement and clarifying disclosure obligations to mitigate risks of inadvertent violations, such as distinguishing coordinated expenditures from independent advocacy. In , she submitted comments to the FEC critiquing proposed policies for in political committees, arguing they could impose undue burdens without sufficient intent-based safeguards. Her contributions extended to publications, including The Lobbying Compliance Handbook (2008), which outlines practical strategies for regulatory adherence, and peer-reviewed articles in journals like the Minnesota Law Review (2012) analyzing post-Citizens United impacts on political spending incentives. These efforts underscored defenses against perceived regulatory overreach, prioritizing precise delineations of permissible political activity under federal statutes like the .

Representation of Conservative Organizations

Mitchell represented numerous conservative nonprofit organizations and issue advocacy groups in matters pertaining to regulations, tax-exempt status applications, and defenses of First Amendment rights to free speech and association. As a partner at LLP, she advised clients on compliance with federal election laws while challenging perceived overreaches by regulatory bodies that restricted political expression. In 2009, Mitchell served as counsel of record for the American Justice Partnership and , conservative organizations, filing an brief in Citizens United v. . The brief argued against government-imposed limits on independent expenditures by corporations and unions in electioneering communications, asserting that such restrictions violated core protections for political speech under the First Amendment. This contribution supported the Supreme Court's eventual 2010 ruling, which struck down portions of the , enabling broader participation in political advocacy by nonprofit entities. Mitchell also provided legal counsel to Republican campaign committees, including the (NRCC) and (NRSC), on regulatory compliance and strategic navigation of federal rules. Her work extended to representing over two dozen Tea Party-affiliated groups seeking 501(c)(4) social welfare status from the between 2010 and 2013, involving legal filings and arguments emphasizing associational rights and nondiscriminatory application of tax exemption criteria for issue-based advocacy. These efforts highlighted disparities in regulatory processing times, where conservative applications faced extended delays compared to others, prompting legal scrutiny of administrative practices.

Conservative Advocacy

Exposure of IRS Targeting of Conservative Groups

In early 2012, Cleta Mitchell, representing several conservative organizations including Tea Party-affiliated groups seeking 501(c)(4) tax-exempt status, identified patterns of excessive delays and intrusive questioning by the (IRS), such as demands for donor lists and content of prayers. She alerted members of to these irregularities, providing documentation that contradicted IRS assurances of neutrality, which helped prompt investigations revealing systemic screening of applications using terms like "Tea Party" or "Patriots." A 2013 Treasury for Tax Administration (TIGTA) audit confirmed inappropriate criteria were applied to at least 296 applications, with conservative groups comprising the vast majority flagged for heightened review, resulting in average processing times exceeding two years compared to months for others. Mitchell's efforts intensified following IRS Exempt Organizations Division Director Lois Lerner's public admission on May 10, 2013, of improper scrutiny, after which Mitchell conducted media interviews and testified before , emphasizing Washington headquarters' involvement over isolated Cincinnati staff actions. In a June 2013 Wall Street Journal interview, she outlined investigative steps, including tracing email chains and personnel decisions, to expose bureaucratic coordination driven by post-Citizens United pressures to curb perceived conservative political spending through nonprofits. Her July 2014 testimony to the House Oversight Committee detailed ongoing abuses, such as unfulfilled Freedom of Information Act requests and lack of FBI outreach to victims, attributing the targeting to civil service employees insulated from accountability and incentivized to enforce regulatory overreach against ideological opponents. The scandal's causal roots lay in IRS incentives amid heightened scrutiny of 501(c)(4) activity after the 2010 Citizens United decision, where frontline agents and supervisors, facing internal mandates to demonstrate enforcement amid fears of unchecked "partisan" speech, disproportionately applied BOLO (Be On the Lookout) lists to conservative applicants—empirical data showing 100% of Tea Party cases versus minimal liberal equivalents initially screened. This politicized enforcement, unmitigated by oversight until external pressure, reflected deeper agency capture by administrative priorities rather than neutral tax administration. Mitchell's advocacy contributed to Lerner's resignation in June 2013 and subsequent IRS settlements totaling over $3.5 million to affected groups by 2017, alongside congressional pushes for reforms like prohibiting IRS donor disclosures and restructuring oversight. However, persistent FOIA delays and limited prosecutions underscored incomplete , fostering sustained public and legislative wariness of federal agencies' in regulating speech.

Broader Policy and Political Engagement

Mitchell has actively engaged conservative coalitions on cultural policy matters, particularly in opposition to the redefinition of marriage to include same-sex unions, viewing such changes as eroding traditional family structures central to societal stability. As a legal advisor to organizations like the National Organization for Marriage, she coordinated efforts to challenge judicial rulings and legislative proposals advancing same-sex marriage, including the preparation of amicus briefs emphasizing religious liberty and parental rights concerns. Her positions aligned with arguments that government imposition of novel marriage definitions infringed on free exercise of religion and compelled speech, influencing conservative strategies in cases leading up to the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision. In the realm of , Mitchell has championed reduced government oversight of political expression and nonprofit advocacy, contending that excessive regulations suppress dissenting voices against expansive state power. In a 2012 article published in the Minnesota Law Review, she critiqued mandatory donor disclosure laws as tools that enable reprisals against contributors, thereby undermining First Amendment protections for anonymous political speech—a practice rooted in historical precedents like . During a 2011 Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing, she testified as the sole witness against proposed expansions of restrictions, arguing they disproportionately burden conservative and issue-based groups challenging dominant narratives in media and academia. Mitchell's affiliations with institutions like the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, where she serves as secretary, have positioned her to support broader conservative policy ecosystems favoring fiscal restraint and market-oriented reforms through strategic grantmaking to aligned think tanks. Similarly, as a senior legal fellow at the prior to 2020, she provided counsel on navigating regulatory frameworks for political and issue , promoting compliance models that minimize bureaucratic impediments to organizing and policy influence. These roles underscore her commitment to empowering conservative entities against institutional biases favoring government expansion, evidenced by her guidance to nonprofits on and rules that preserve operational .

Election Integrity Efforts

Involvement in 2020 Election Irregularity Investigations

On January 2, 2021, Cleta Mitchell participated in an hour-long conference call between President and , during which she advocated for investigations into alleged procedural irregularities in the state's , particularly in Fulton County. She emphasized the need for signature verification on absentee ballots, criticizing the limited scope of prior reviews in counties like Cobb and urging a broader to address unverified signatures that could indicate fraud. Mitchell referenced specific empirical anomalies, including approximately 4,500 voters who had registered out-of-state but cast ballots in Georgia, and called for access to official records to verify claims of deceased individuals voting. Mitchell highlighted chain-of-custody concerns at in Fulton County, where she claimed around 18,000 ballots were processed without proper bipartisan oversight after observers were sent home, potentially involving dumping or shredding, and pressed officials to release to "get to the bottom" of these discrepancies amid a noted lack of judicial action on related petitions. Her arguments focused on empirical verification of procedural flaws rather than unsubstantiated reversal of results, contrasting with official assertions of election integrity and underscoring transparency deficits in handling. Mitchell's role in these inquiries extended to advising on post- reviews in battleground states, where she supported probes into verifiable anomalies like voter roll inaccuracies, though specific legal filings under her name were not pursued in court. Left-leaning outlets and critics labeled her efforts as "election denialism" aimed at voter suppression, yet a Fulton County special recommended charges against her in 2023 for alleged interference, a proposal not advanced by Fani Willis, reflecting an absence of prosecutable criminal evidence. This outcome aligns with broader findings of procedural issues in voting, such as unverified out-of-state registrations, without establishing intent to subvert certified tallies.

Role on the Election Assistance Commission Advisory Board

In November 2021, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights appointed Cleta Mitchell to its designated seats on the Board of Advisors for the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC), a bipartisan federal body that provides non-binding guidance on election administration standards, including voluntary voting system guidelines (VVSG) and best practices for voter registration and ballot integrity. The appointment, facilitated through conservative networks including EAC standards board member J. Christian Adams, positioned Mitchell to influence national-level recommendations amid ongoing debates over 2020 election vulnerabilities. Mitchell's contributions emphasized empirical safeguards against registration inaccuracies and procedural risks, recommending routine voter roll maintenance to excise deceased or ineligible entries, proof of citizenship and identity requirements for federal registration forms, and repeal of National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) provisions limiting state removal processes. She highlighted jurisdictions mailing ballots directly to potentially outdated rolls—citing as an example—and advocated free access to federal databases like Social Security death records, the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program, and USPS change-of-address data to enable proactive verification by election officials. Regarding absentee and mail voting, Mitchell critiqued expansions without enhanced protocols, emailing fellow advisors about associated fraud risks from weak signature matching and chain-of-custody gaps, urging uniform federal advisories for stricter handling to prevent exploitation seen in 2020's rapid no-excuse implementations. These positions faced opposition from Democrats and groups, who characterized Mitchell's appointment and input as injecting "election denialism" into federal processes, referencing her 2020 advisory role to then-President Trump. Such critiques, often amplified by left-leaning organizations, prioritized dismissing security concerns as partisan overreach rather than addressing causal factors like the 2020 shift to mass absentee voting, which correlated with documented anomalies in processing and verification across multiple states. Mitchell's term ended November 3, 2023, without reappointment after the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights vacated its EAC seats amid external pressure. Her tenure yielded no sweeping EAC policy shifts, as advisory input requires consensus and faces implementation hurdles from state , but it elevated discussions on audit transparency, e-poll book oversight, and database integration, potentially informing future VVSG updates by underscoring needs for verifiable protocols over convenience-driven expansions.

Founding and Leadership of the Election Integrity Network

Cleta Mitchell founded the Election Integrity Network (EIN) in the aftermath of the 2020 U.S. presidential election as a coordinated response to concerns over election administration vulnerabilities exposed during that cycle. Established as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, EIN functions as a hub uniting conservative organizations, activists, and officials to systematically address issues like inaccurate voter rolls and insufficient verification protocols, distinguishing itself from individual efforts by providing structured training and resource-sharing across states. Mitchell serves as the primary leader of EIN, directing its operations from her role as senior legal fellow at the while leveraging her decades of experience in to guide strategy. The network's core initiatives focus on training thousands of volunteers in data-driven techniques to identify and report discrepancies in voter registrations, such as outdated addresses or inactive statuses, prompting state officials to initiate purges under existing laws like the National Voter Registration Act's provisions for list maintenance. EIN coordinates working groups that analyze public voter data against postal records and other sources to flag potential ineligible entries, emphasizing proactive to enforce regular clean-up cycles without relying on external systems. Under EIN's influence, several states have advanced incorporating verification enhancements, such as requiring cross-checks for residency and status, which have facilitated the removal of hundreds of thousands of confirmed inactive registrations—evidenced by discrepancies where registered voters exceed population estimates or fail to match current records. Proponents, including Mitchell, argue these measures mitigate risks by ensuring only eligible individuals vote, supported by documented cases of non-resident or deceased listings persisting on rolls. Opponents contend such purges could disenfranchise eligible voters through errors, though empirical reviews of post-purge data show negligible impacts on turnout or valid ballots, with most challenges upheld as inactive rather than active eligible registrations.

Criticisms of the ERIC Voter Registration System

Cleta Mitchell has criticized the (ERIC) for inadequately addressing interstate voter mobility and data-sharing limitations, which she argues result in persistent inaccuracies on state voter rolls, including unremoved duplicates and outdated registrations. Through her leadership of the Election Integrity Network (EIN), Mitchell advocated for states to withdraw from ERIC, highlighting concerns over its reliance on commercial vendors for address verification—such as those potentially biased toward left-leaning data firms—and insufficient removal of ineligible entries despite member dues exceeding $10 million annually across participating states. Her efforts contributed to exits by states including in May 2022, and in 2023, in May 2023, in October 2023, and in December 2023, with these withdrawals prompted by legislative reviews emphasizing ERIC's failure to deliver comprehensive interstate match rates above 80% for movers. Mitchell contends that overstates its accuracy in maintaining clean rolls, as its matching algorithms often flag only partial data overlaps—such as names or partial addresses—leading to low-confidence identifications that states hesitate to act upon, thereby retaining potential duplicates or noncitizen registrations. She points to empirical evidence from state audits, including instances where noncitizen entries persisted despite ERIC reports; for example, separate investigations uncovered thousands of potential noncitizen voters in states like , underscoring systemic gaps in ERIC's cross-checks against DMV and vital records that do not incorporate federal immigration databases like SAVE for verification. From a causal standpoint, Mitchell argues that lax roll creates incentives for , as undetected ineligible voters dilute legitimate ballots without ERIC's processes enforcing proactive purges beyond mere notifications to states. Defenders of , including its member states and nonpartisan analysts, maintain that the system has facilitated the identification and removal of over 11 million ineligible registrations since 2012 through data matches on deaths, duplicates, and movers, with reported match accuracy rates exceeding 95% in controlled tests. However, Mitchell disputes these figures, noting that many "removals" involve merely designating voters as inactive rather than purging them, and verifiable error rates in ERIC's data—such as false positives from name similarities—can reach 10-20% in interstate comparisons, per state officials' feedback, potentially burdening administrators without resolving core inaccuracies. These counterclaims, often from sources aligned with ERIC's operations, emphasize efficiency gains but overlook, in Mitchell's view, the program's opaque vendor contracts and limited incentives for states to act on low-confidence matches.

Advocacy for Voter ID Laws and Election Security Reforms

Mitchell has long promoted state-level requiring government-issued photo ID to verify eligibility, arguing that such measures align with basic verification standards applied in everyday transactions like banking or , thereby bolstering election integrity without imposing undue burdens. In her September 10, 2024, testimony to the U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government, she endorsed expanding documentary proof of citizenship for registration, akin to provisions in the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, to close loopholes under the National Voter Registration Act that rely solely on self-attestation. She highlighted state data, such as Arizona's 42,000 federal-only voters lacking citizenship documentation in 2020—outnumbering the presidential margin by fourfold—as evidence of risks from inadequate verification. Empirical studies support Mitchell's position that photo ID requirements create minimal barriers, with a 2019 analysis of multiple states finding no statistically significant reduction in overall turnout following implementation. Similarly, a nationwide across U.S. counties showed strict ID laws did not suppress participation, as provisional ballots and free ID provisions mitigated potential issues. Internationally, over 30 democracies mandate voter ID, including (turnout ~62% in 2021 federal election) and (~76% in 2021), often surpassing U.S. rates without evidence of widespread disenfranchisement. Mitchell rebuts suppression claims by pointing to post-reform turnout stability, such as in after its 2005 law, where participation rates held steady or rose in subsequent elections. Following the 2020 elections, Mitchell influenced conservative legislative pushes for omnibus security packages in states like Georgia (Senate Bill 202, enacted March 2021) and (Senate Bill 7, enacted September 2021), which mandated ID for absentee ballots and limited drop boxes while expanding hours. These reforms, which she praised for enhancing verifiability, faced accusations of voter suppression from left-leaning groups, yet 2022 midterm turnout in Georgia reached 37.5%—among the highest nationally—and saw 46%, indicating no causal drop linked to ID mandates. By prioritizing causal verification over convenience, Mitchell contends these changes restore public confidence, as evidenced by polls showing 81% of Americans favoring photo ID requirements. Critics from academia and media, often aligned with progressive institutions, emphasize hypothetical barriers for minorities, but rigorous regression analyses controlling for confounders find effects near zero, privileging observable data over modeled projections.

Media and Public Commentary

Podcast and Ongoing Media Appearances

Mitchell hosts the Who's Counting with Cleta Mitchell, a production of the Election Integrity Network, which debuted in October 2021 and features weekly interviews with conservative leaders, state officials, and activists focused on election security. Episodes regularly examine vulnerabilities in systems, including detailed critiques of the (ERIC) for its data-sharing practices that Mitchell argues enable inaccuracies and fail to purge ineligible voters effectively. Other installments address procedural flaws in specific jurisdictions, such as the 2022 Maricopa County elections, where guests detail chain-of-custody issues and ballot handling irregularities. The emphasizes causal mechanisms behind risks, such as unverified mail-in ballots and inadequate matching, urging reforms grounded in state constitutions and federal statutes like the Help America Vote Act. Mitchell's commentary challenges mainstream dismissals of concerns as unfounded, highlighting empirical instances of non-citizen voting and duplicate registrations documented in state audits. By October 2022, it marked its first anniversary with reflections on building grassroots infrastructure for oversight, maintaining a format that prioritizes listener action items like poll-watching training. Beyond her own program, Mitchell appears as a guest on aligned media platforms to reinforce arguments for auditable processes over trust-based systems. On the Show on March 10, 2023, she outlined historical precedents for strict verification to prevent dilution of legal votes. In a September 23, 2024, episode of Moment of Truth, she critiqued institutional inertia in addressing 2020 irregularities, advocating decentralized safeguards. A September 25, 2025, appearance on Why We Vote exposed barriers from officials in states like Georgia, underscoring failures in federal oversight under prior administrations. These engagements, often exceeding 100,000 views per episode across platforms, echo policy shifts in states adopting stricter ID requirements post-2020.

Testimonies and Public Speaking Engagements

Mitchell testified before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the and on September 10, 2024, during a hearing titled "The Biden-Harris Border Crisis: Noncitizen Voting." In her remarks, she argued that requires proof of U.S. for in federal elections but that many states fail to enforce this, creating vulnerabilities exacerbated by increased noncitizen entries under Biden-Harris policies. She cited specific instances, including over 42,000 voters in registered solely for federal elections without documented citizenship proof as of July 1, 2024; Virginia's removal of more than 11,000 noncitizens from rolls between 2014 and 2023, during which approximately 1,000 cast illegal ballots in 2023-2024; Texas's removal of over 6,000 noncitizens since 2021; Alabama's recent purge of about 3,000; and a Pennsylvania database glitch leading to over 100,000 noncitizens being erroneously registered, as alleged in a 2018 lawsuit. Mitchell recommended passage of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act (H.R. 8281), which had passed the House 221-198 in July 2024, to mandate documentary proof of for federal , stating, "Only Citizens should be allowed to vote in our elections" and noting the ease of noncitizen registration versus the difficulty of removal. Mitchell has also delivered public speeches at conservative gatherings focused on election security, including events organized by the Conservative Partnership Institute's election integrity summits in battleground states. These engagements emphasized volunteers as poll watchers to monitor handling and challenge irregularities, drawing on empirical examples of past lapses to underscore the need for oversight. She highlighted successful outcomes from such programs, such as increased recruitment of observers who documented procedural issues, contributing to state-level reforms like enhanced chain-of-custody requirements for . While praised by attendees for bolstering transparency, her presentations faced from opponents who characterized the trainings as potential vehicles for voter , though Mitchell maintained they prioritize legal observation to prevent . In a related 2024 appearance co-hosted by the Center, she reiterated calls for uniform citizenship verification to align state practices with federal mandates.

Personal Life

Family and Personal Background

Cleta B. Deatherage Mitchell was born on September 16, 1950, in , . In 1984, she married Dale Mitchell, then-chairman of the board of Fidelity National Bank in .

Recent Activities

Post-2024 Election Reform Initiatives

Following the 2024 presidential , in which most Republican voters expressed confidence in the results after Trump's victory, Cleta Mitchell continued advocating for structural reforms to enhance election security and prevent potential vulnerabilities such as non-citizen participation. Through her leadership of the Election Integrity Network, Mitchell emphasized proactive measures over reliance on post-election trust, arguing that systems must foster confidence in every cycle by prioritizing verification and limiting administrative expansions that could introduce errors. She supported the reintroduction of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act on January 3, 2025, by Rep. (R-TX), which mandates documentary proof of U.S. for federal to close gaps where non-citizens—despite federal prohibitions—have been erroneously registered in states like and , as identified in audits revealing thousands of potential ineligible entries. Mitchell's initiatives extended to broader efforts, including proposals for single-day in-person voting to reduce handling of absentee ballots, stricter for new registrations, and mandatory data-sharing between election offices and state departments of motor vehicles to update addresses and flag discrepancies preemptively. These recommendations, outlined in her network's policy framework, aim to minimize reliance on trust-based processes by enforcing verifiable controls, countering arguments for maintaining status quo systems that overlook empirical risks like outdated rolls affecting over 20 million voters nationwide per periodic GAO assessments. She also called for curtailing election officials' roles in voter outreach, redirecting focus to impartial administration, and empowering local boards to scrutinize certifications more rigorously. By September 2025, after the passed the SAVE Act in April, Mitchell escalated her push at a Capitol rally, urging a "Super SAVE Act" to codify free Department of reviews of voter rolls for non-citizen removals and extend such audits to all states, addressing persistent gaps where self-attestation allows unverified registrations despite data indicating non-citizen applications in multiple jurisdictions. This built on her prior testimonies highlighting causal links between lax verification and isolated fraud incidents, advocating nationwide uniformity to preempt disputes rather than litigate them post hoc. In September 2025, voting rights organizations including Democracy North Carolina and of Women Voters sought to Cleta Mitchell to testify in a federal trial challenging provisions of 's 2023 election integrity law, which includes requirements for documentary proof of for in certain cases. Mitchell, through her legal representatives, opposed the , arguing it constituted harassment aimed at intimidating election integrity advocates and infringed on her First Amendment rights by compelling testimony on policy advocacy unrelated to direct involvement in 's implementation. On October 9, 2025, U.S. District Judge Thomas D. Schroeder ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, authorizing alternative service of the via mail and email after finding that Mitchell had taken affirmative steps to evade personal service, such as declining to accept documents from process servers. Mitchell's resistance highlighted broader tensions between election security proponents and critics, who framed the law as voter suppression targeting students and minorities, while Mitchell maintained that such reforms address verifiable gaps in citizenship verification exposed by state audits revealing noncitizen registrations in low but non-zero numbers across jurisdictions like (over 1,600 potential cases identified in 2024) and . Federal law under the National Voter Registration Act does not mandate documentary proof of citizenship for most registrations, relying instead on self-attestation under penalty of perjury, a system Mitchell has criticized as insufficient given lax enforcement and the absence of routine cross-checks with federal databases like SAVE until recent state initiatives. Although empirical data from sources including state investigations indicate noncitizen voting incidents remain exceedingly rare—numbering in the dozens nationally amid millions of ballots—Mitchell contends this understates systemic vulnerabilities amplified by border policies allowing unverified entries, advocating for universal proof requirements to preempt fraud rather than react to it. Ongoing advocacy by Mitchell through the Election Integrity Network has influenced post-2024 policy pushes, including support for the SAVE Act reintroduced in January 2025 by Rep. , which would require states to obtain documentary proof of U.S. for federal and mandate removal of noncitizens from rolls using federal data. In June 2025, the Department of briefed EIN representatives, including Mitchell's affiliates, on expanding access to verification tools for officials, amid concerns over prior restrictions that limited states' ability to voter rolls with records. These efforts have correlated with state-level outcomes, such as Wisconsin's October 2025 court victory enforcing mandatory checks on registrations, blocking the state from accepting unverified forms and prompting similar reviews elsewhere, though causal attribution remains debated given parallel Republican legislative majorities.

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