In 2025, Trump issued Burt Jones a preemptive pardon for his role as an alternate elector attempting to overturn the 2020 election. Jones wrote a petition calling for the Georgia legislature to appoint alternate electors, and he was one of 16 fake electors who signed a false certification that Trump won the state of Georgia. He also intended to deliver a letter to Pence urging him to delay the tally of electoral votes, before deciding against it at last minute.
Due to his role in attempting to overturn the 2020 election, Jones lost his position as Chair of the Insurance and Labor Committee, and was warned that he could be prosecuted. In 2024, a special prosecutor ultimately decided against indicting Jones.
November 2025: Trump Included Jones In His Preemptive Pardon For The Alternate Electors Involved In Attempting To Overturn The 2020 Election. According to the Georgia Recorder, “Georgia Republicans who came under legal scrutiny after allegedly playing a role in trying to overturn President Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss are celebrating after the president issued a sweeping preemptive pardon […] Georgia’s highest-ranking alternate elector is Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who participated in the plan while serving as a state senator. A special prosecutor ruled last year that Jones acted within the scope of his authority as a state legislator and that charges should not be brought against him. Trump has endorsed Jones in the 2026 race for governor in Georgia. In a statement following the pardon, campaign spokesperson Kayla Lott characterized the case against Jones as political theater from Willis. ‘After being cleared by the state prosecutor, this is the final confirmation that this whole thing was a charade led by Joe Biden and Fani Willis,’ Lott said. ‘They owe the taxpayers an apology and a refund.’” [Georgia Recorder, 11/10/25]
The Bulwark: “Kemp Stands Shoulder-To-Shoulder With One Of The State’s Top Election Deniers,” Burt Jones. According to The Bulwark, “Georgia Republican Governor Brian Kemp gets a lot of credit for resisting pressure from former President Donald Trump to ‘find the votes’ to flip the 2020 election results in his state. But that was then. Today, Kemp stands shoulder-to-shoulder with one of the state’s top election deniers. That man is his running mate, the GOP candidate for lieutenant governor, Burt Jones.” [The Bulwark, 9/1/22]
December 2020: Jones And Three Other Republican State Senators Wrote A Petition Calling For A Special Session So The Republican Legislature Could “Take Back The Power To Appoint Electors.” According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “And four Republican state senators — Brandon Beach, Greg Dolezal, Burt Jones and William Ligon — drafted a petition seeking a special session claiming ‘systemic’ election failures. It seeks to allow the Republican-controlled Legislature to ‘take back the power to appoint electors.’” [Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 12/7/20]
2020: Jones Was Among 16 Illegitimate Electors Who Signed False Certificates Declaring Trump The Winner Of Georgia. According to the Georgia Recorder, “Several days ago, the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia began the search for a special prosecutor to review Jones’ involvement as a state senator at the time of the election in November 2020. Jones was among 16 illegitimate GOP electors who signed false certificates declaring Trump the Georgia winner, despite confirmed election results showing Biden by nearly 12,000 votes ahead of the incumbent.” [Georgia Recorder, 8/23/23]
January 2021: Jones Signed A Letter “Urging Pence To Delay The Tally Of Electoral College Votes For 12 Days ‘For Further Investigation Of Fraud, Irregularities, And Misconduct,’” And Intended To Personally Deliver The Letter To Pence. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “On Jan. 2, some Georgia legislators prepared a letter urging Pence to delay the tally of Electoral College votes for 12 days ‘for further investigation of fraud, irregularities and misconduct’ in the November election. Legislators from four other states that Biden won wrote similar letters. Among the 16 Georgia legislators who signed the letter were Sens. Brandon Beach, Greg Dolezal, Burt Jones and William Ligon, who had spent weeks calling for the General Assembly to intervene on Trump’s behalf. The letter appeared on Ligon’s Senate stationery. Jones planned to deliver it to the vice president personally a few days later.” [Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “Inside The Georgia 2020 Election,” Archived 12/2/25]
January 2021: Jones Was Removed As Chair Of The Insurance And Labor Committee In The Georgia State Senate After Backing Attempts To Overturn The 2020 Presidential Election. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “The Republican rift in the state Senate came to a head Tuesday when Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan demoted three Republican senators who have backed attempts to overturn the presidential vote in Georgia over baseless allegations of irregularities. When the bloodletting was over, state Sens. Brandon Beach of Alpharetta, Matt Brass of Newnan and Burt Jones of Jackson were sapped of their political influence on the second day of the winter session. As our AJC colleague Maya T. Prabhu reports, Duncan stripped Beach of his chairmanship of the Transportation Committee, while Jones will no longer lead the Insurance and Labor Committee. Neither will serve as even a rank-and-file member on the two panels they once led.” [Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 1/13/21]
July 2021: Jones Attended The Women For America First’s “Election Integrity Event” In Rome, Georgia, And Claimed He And Two Other State Senators Who Attempted To Overturn The 2020 Election Were Labeled As “Outcasts Because We Spoke Out.” According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “The organizers at the door handed out soft-pink ‘Trump Won’ signs to each attendee. An out-of-state radio host spouted far-right conspiracies. Speaker after speaker insisted that Joe Biden couldn’t have won the November election and that Georgia couldn’t be a blue state. The gathering this week in Rome might seem like a pro-Donald Trump fantasy convention. But this was no fringe group. Some of the biggest stars in the Georgia GOP were in attendance. State Sen. Burt Jones, a wealthy executive who is expected to run for lieutenant governor, was given a hero’s welcome. […] At the event in Rome, billed as an ‘election integrity’ town hall that was hosted by Women for America First, organizers fumed at Kemp for not calling a special legislative session to invalidate the November election. Others talked of decertifying Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff’s win, which is not legally possible. And the crowd of about 100 rewarded Burt Jones with loud cheers as he recounted how he and two other GOP state senators were stripped of powerful posts because they had aggressively pushed to overturn the presidential vote. ‘We were the outcasts because we spoke out. But it hasn’t stopped us,’ Jones said. ‘We’re still talking because the people are on our side.’” [Atlanta Journal Constitution, 7/14/21]
July 2022: Fulton County Prosecutor Fani T. Willis Sent Jones A Letter Informing Him He “Could Be Indicted” For His Role In The Efforts To Overturn The 2020 Election. According to The New York Times, “The breadth, speed and seriousness of the criminal investigation into election meddling by former President Donald J. Trump and his associates in Georgia were underscored on Friday by the revelation that two pro-Trump state senators and the chair of the state Republican Party were sent letters by an Atlanta prosecutor informing them they could be indicted, according to a person familiar with the inquiry. The Fulton County prosecutor, Fani T. Willis, is also weighing whether to subpoena Mr. Trump himself and seek his testimony before a grand jury, just days after she subpoenaed seven of his advisers, including Rudolph W. Giuliani and Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, in an investigation into efforts to overturn Mr. Trump’s 2020 election loss in Georgia. […] The letters to David Shafer, the Georgia Republican Party chair, and State Senators Burt Jones and Brandon Beach were first reported by Yahoo News.” [New York Times, 7/15/22]
September 2024: Executive Director Of The Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council Of Georgia Announced He Would Not Prosecute Jones For His Role In Attempting To Overturn The 2020 Election. According to the Associate Press, “A special prosecutor has decided not to pursue charges against Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones over efforts to overturn Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential election loss in the state. Pete Skandalakis, executive director of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia on Friday announced that he had decided not to bring the matter to a grand jury. Skandalakis appointed himself to handle the matter in April, nearly two years after Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was barred from prosecuting Jones as part of her election interference case against former Trump and others.” [Associated Press, 9/13/24]