Georgia State Election Board is pushing election skeptics to monitor Fulton County's elections

David Wickert and Mark Niesse, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Oct 8, 2024

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ATLANTA — The fight between Georgia's State Election Board and Fulton County took dramatic twists Tuesday, with the county suing the state and the board voting to subpoena the county’s election records from the 2020 presidential election.

The dispute centers on the county’s refusal to accept election monitors favored by the board’s Republican majority, including election skeptics who objected to the results of the 2020 race.

Fulton has already appointed a team to monitor its performance in the November election as part of an agreement with the board and the secretary of state’s office. But Republican members of the state board now want to appoint their own monitors to oversee Fulton’s operations.

The county board of elections filed a lawsuit Monday claiming the state board has no legal authority to appoint its own monitors.

At a meeting Tuesday, a divided state board responded with a subpoena for a slew of county records from the 2020 election. The board members also subpoenaed the Fulton County board to appear at an upcoming meeting to address their concerns.

The escalating legal battle comes as the state board’s new Republican majority continues to assert its power. In recent months the majority has approved a series of new rules governing the conduct of this year’s election that have prompted several lawsuits that say the board has exceeded its legal authority.

This week’s actions stem from long-running scrutiny of Fulton County’s performance in the 2020 election.

A state investigation found the county likely scanned more than 3,000 ballots twice during a recount of the presidential election. Election investigators were unable to confirm that the double-scanned ballots were counted twice, but in May the board reprimanded the county and required it to hire monitors for this year’s general election, with the consent of the state board and the secretary of state.

In July, Fulton County hired a team of monitors led by Ryan Germany, former general counsel for the secretary of state’s office. The secretary’s office has approved the team.

But with two new members added in recent months, the state board has not agreed to Germany’s team, and some members have made it clear they want to appoint their own monitors.

According to the lawsuit filed in Fulton County Superior Court, state board Chairman John Fervier and member Janice Johnston recently discussed monitors with Sherri Allen, the chair of the Fulton board. The lawsuit said Johnston threatened to “disavow” the county if it did not accept monitors suggested by the board.

In a subsequent email, Johnston proposed eight monitors be added to Germany’s team.

They include former U.S. Rep. Frank Ryan, who asked asked his state’s congressional delegation not to recognize its electors, and Heather Honey, a subcontractor in the Cyber Ninjas audit of the 2020 presidential election in Maricopa County, Arizona.

The lawsuit says the state board has no authority to force Fulton County to accept its election monitors and asks the court for an injunction blocking the effort.

On Tuesday, Johnston and board member Janell King said the county had violated the May agreement by failing to appoint a team acceptable to the board.

“At some point we have to stop allowing them to find workarounds to an agreement that was put in place because of errors that they made,” Johnston said.

Johnston and King expressed support for reopening the investigation of Fulton County over the objections of Fervier and Democratic board member Sara Tindall Ghazal.

“We have no legal standing to force this, to force a monitoring team,” Ghazal said.

Board member Rick Jeffares, voting by phone, joined Johnston and King in supporting the subpoenas.

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