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2024 Op. Ga. Att'y Gen. 1 (2024)

handle is hein.sag/sagga0104 and id is 1 raw text is: GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF LAW CHRISTOPHER M. CARR 40 Capitol Square SW www.law.ga.gov ATTORNBY GENERAIL Atlanta, Georgia 30334-1300 (0)4830 ATTORE 'GEIRAL(404) 458-3600 OFFICIAL OPINION John Fervier Chairman State Election Board 2 Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive Suite 802, Floyd West Tower Atlanta, Georgia 30334 Re: The Attorney General serves as the sole legal counsel to the Executive Branch of state government, does not have a legal conflict in doing so and further is not required to engage other counsel at the direction of a client. The State Election Board is not empowered to direct the Attorney General to conduct an investigation under Title 21 whether on his own or through outside investigators. The Election Code does not empower the Attorney General to act on his own as an investigator beyond the limited context of a referral of a case to the Attorney General for potential criminal prosecution as referenced in O.C.G.A. § 21-2-31(5). Dear Chairman Fervier: While this Office has not received a written request, we have become aware of requests directed to this Office by action of the State Election Board (SEB) at its meeting held on August 7, 2024. This opinion is written to officially address the law related to two of those requests.1 First, the action of the SEB made certain requests related to this Office and the engagement of outside counsel. The SEB directed this Office to seek advice of conflicts counsel to determine who should represent the State Election Board in investigating this matter.2 The SEB further directed that this Office provide a report regarding such advice and report to the SEB such that the SEB may hire outside legal counsel and investigators. 1 Some of the Issues raised by the SEB's action arise with some frequency and necessitate an official opinion. 2 The matter is an administrative case involving a particular Georgia county that has been the subject of prior SEB action in the form of a public reprimand under O.C.G.A. § 21-2-33.1(a)(3).

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