
Doug Bock Clark
Doug Bock Clark is a reporter in ProPublica’s South unit. He investigates threats to democracy and abuses of power throughout the region.
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Doug Bock Clark is a reporter in ProPublica’s South unit. He investigates threats to democracy and abuses of power throughout the region.
Clark was previously a correspondent at GQ magazine, where his investigations contributed to getting two women off death row and revealed how the Trump administration had distorted classified intelligence to push the nation toward a confrontation with North Korea. His reporting for the New York Times Magazine helped free two unjustly imprisoned men from a foreign jail.
Clark has previously written about the South for the New Yorker, Rolling Stone, Mother Jones and Wired. He won the Arthur L. Carter Reporting Award and has been a finalist for the Livingston Award, the Mirror Award and the Excellence in Features Award from the Society of Features Journalists. His first book, “The Last Whalers,” was one of the New York Times’ 100 Notable Books of 2019 and a finalist for the William Saroyan International Writing Prize and the Lowell Thomas Travel Book Award. He has produced two feature documentaries inspired by his articles: “Assassins,” which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and played in theaters worldwide, and “The Last Cruise” for HBO.
Election Skeptics Are Running Some County Election Boards in Georgia. A New Rule Could Allow Them to Exclude Decisive Votes.
An examination of a new election rule in Georgia suggests that local officials in just a handful of rural counties could exclude enough votes to affect the outcome of the 2024 presidential race.
by Doug Bock Clark and Heather Vogell,
Officials Voted Down a Controversial Georgia Election Rule, Saying It Violated the Law. Then a Similar Version Passed.
The rule, which was pushed by nationally prominent election deniers, only changed in minor ways between being voted down in May and approved in August. Those adjustments made it even less compliant with existing law, experts say.
by Doug Bock Clark,
Election Deniers Secretly Pushed Rule That Would Make It Easier to Delay Certification of Georgia’s Election Results
On Monday, the GOP-controlled State Election Board is poised to adopt the rule, which would potentially allow county officials, including one who secretly backed the rule, to throw the election results of the swing state into chaos this fall.
by Doug Bock Clark,
Cybersecurity Researcher Discovers Yet Another Flaw in Georgia’s Voter Cancellation Portal
The flaw would have allowed anyone to submit a voter registration cancellation request for any Georgian using their name, date of birth and county of residence — information that is easily discoverable online.
by Doug Bock Clark,
Marjorie Taylor Greene’s and Brad Raffensperger’s Voter Registrations Targeted in Georgia’s New Online Portal
Days after Georgia Democrats warned that the state’s new online portal for canceling voter registrations could be abused, officials have confirmed misuse attempts — including efforts to cancel the registrations of prominent Republicans.
by Doug Bock Clark,
North Carolina Supreme Court Secretly Squashed Discipline of Two GOP Judges Who Admitted to Violating Judicial Code
The decisions came despite the Judicial Standards Commission’s recommendations to publicly reprimand the judges, and these are likely the only times in more than a decade in which the court didn’t follow the commission’s guidance.
by Doug Bock Clark,
Georgia Promised to Fix How Voter Challenges Are Handled. A New Law Could Make the Problem Worse.
SB 189, which goes into effect in July, will give Georgia residents more time to contest the eligibility of fellow citizens’ inclusion on voter rolls and make it easier to use questionable evidence in those challenges.
by Doug Bock Clark,
Close to 100,000 Voter Registrations Were Challenged in Georgia — Almost All by Just Six Right-Wing Activists
The recent transformation of the state’s election laws explicitly enabled citizens to file unlimited challenges to other voters’ registrations. Experts warn that election officials’ handling of some of those challenges may clash with federal law.
by Doug Bock Clark, photography by Cheney Orr for ProPublica,
Two Republicans Kicked Off County Election Board in North Carolina for Failing to Certify Results
What happened to the officials stands in sharp contrast to elsewhere in the U.S., where those who voted against certification faced few consequences.
by Doug Bock Clark,
Some Election Officials Refused to Certify Results. Few Were Held Accountable.
A ProPublica review of local officials who refused to certify 2022 election results found that most did not face formal consequences. Experts explain what that means for the future of American elections.
by Doug Bock Clark,