Georgia Board seeks access to off-limits election area
Election monitoring is one of the latest GOP-led tactics to intimidate voters. But it’s not as new in Georgia.
The far-right majority Georgia State Election Board has had its eyes on Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) since at least May when it filed a petition that sought to force Raffensperger to allow poll watchers into his “Election Night Reporting Room” on primary election night.
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While it is county election officials who count votes, the secretary of state is tasked with reporting the results. Since no votes are counted at this site, poll watchers are not required to receive access to it like they are for polling places, according to Attorney General Chris Carr in a report from the Georgia Recorder.
That hasn’t stopped the State Election Board from filing to get access. The Board then appealed Tuesday after a state court judge dismissed the case in June.
Judge Melynee Leftridge reiterated Carr’s reasoning in her dismissal last month.
“No polling, voting, scanning, tabulation, verification or adjudication of voted ballots takes place at the Emergency Operations Center,” Leftridge wrote. “All such activities are conducted at the county level, where poll watchers and members of the State Election Board have access to observe them.”
The court also said two of the three petitioners, Chris Mora and Cobb County Commissioner Keli Gambrill, lacked standing because they had no connection to the June primary election. Mora lost his bid for the Republican primary without enough votes to make it to June.
A day after its appeal, the Board voted 3-2 to pass a rule for access.
The only Democratic board appointee and the chairman voted against the measure.
“The attorney general does not believe that it is statutorily our ability to do this,” Chairman John Fevrier said at the meeting for the vote. “And I always follow the advice of the attorney general, since they’re the ones who represent us.”
The state Supreme Court blocked four separate votes from the State Election Board in June alone.