Georgia State Election Board and Atlanta’s Fulton County spar over election monitor plan

ATLANTA– With less than a month to go before voters go to the polls, the State Election Board is locked in a battle with Georgia’s most populous county over a monitoring team to observe the county’s election practices.

The monitoring team was part of a resolution to a complaint against Fulton County following the 2020 election. The state election board ruled in May that the county had violated certain portions of the state election code. The vote was to issue a letter of reprimand, which included instructions for an agreement on a mutually acceptable monitor to be concluded at the board’s August meeting.

But the county and state election boards have been unable to reach an agreement. The county prefers a team proposed by Ryan Germany, a former chief counsel for the secretary of state, and the Atlanta-based Carter Center. The Majority supported by Donald Trump of the State Election Board has proposed an alternative list of people who questioned the results of the 2020 presidential election.

The province at the end of August went ahead and hired his team without the consent of the state administration, and it has been monitoring pre-election practices for more than a month. But disagreements between provincial and state governments continued to fester and escalate significantly this week.

On Monday, the Fulton County Board filed a lawsuit asking a judge to declare that the state board does not have the authority to force it to “accept additional observers, and pay Fulton County, for the 2024 elections, which are conducted by hand.” have been chosen by certain states.” Members of the electoral council.”

At a state election board meeting Tuesday, member Janice Johnston said the county does not appear to be living up to its end of the bargain. She had voted against the agreement because she believed the investigation into the original complaint had not been completed and had repeatedly tried to reopen the complaint without success.

Johnston proposed subpoenaing a large number of 2020 election documents from the Fulton County Clerk. She and the other two Republican members of the board voted for the subpoena over the objections of the sole Democratic member and the nonpartisan chairman, who pointed out that the attorney general said the case was closed and could not be reopened.

An Aug. 19 legal opinion written by Attorney General Chris Carr and obtained by The Associated Press said final decisions by the state election board are “conclusive” and that “relitigating any claims that have already been adjudicated, or that could have been settled has been tried, is therefore prohibited.” Attorneys for Fulton County argue that the approval of the motion at the May meeting and the resulting reprimand meant the case is closed and cannot be reopened, and that “the argument is probably sound,” Carr wrote.

Asked about the attorney general’s guidance, Johnston said, “That was an opinion. That is not a legal finding. That was their advice or opinion. We disagree on that.”

Fulton is home to about 11% of the state’s electorate and includes most of Atlanta. Problems with the electionsincluding long lines and slow reporting of results, have drawn national scrutiny. Then-President Trump wrongly claimed that widespread voter fraud in Fulton County during the 2020 presidential election cost him the state.

After a special one problematic primary that yearthe county and the State Election Board formally agreed to appoint an independent observer to investigate the county’s election practices during the general. He documented “sloppy processes” and “systemic disorganization” but found no evidence of illegality or fraud.

Fulton County elections have been closely watched since then, with the State Election Board voting last year not to take over his elections after one performance appraisal found the province showed a clear improvement.

Both the province and the state secretary signed in July on a team proposed by Germany, which was also part of the team that did the performance assessment. The county also rejected a proposal from Johnston.

The Republican majority on the State Election Board repeatedly said at meetings in August that they did not approve of the county’s team. But the county board reaffirmed its choice, and county commissioners voted to approve the contract days later.

State Board Republicans reiterated their dissatisfaction in September, and Johnston suggested that she and Board Chairman John Fervier meet with Sherri Allen, chair of the Fulton County Board of Elections.

Fervier said at Tuesday’s meeting that they met last week, that Johnston proposed expanding the monitoring team and that the state board sent a list of eight proposed members. Allen told them the county commissioners would have to make the change, and Fervier said he believed no action was being taken on that front.

Fervier then said he was notified that morning of the Fulton board’s petition to the judge. Johnston said she interpreted this as a rejection of their proposed monitoring team members and accused the local government of failing to fulfill its obligations under the agreement.