Georgia Court Allows Election Deniers to Join Fulton Board of Elections

By Matt Cohen

Fulton County election board member, Julie Adams walks at the Fulton County Election Hub and Operation Center, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

Two prominent GOP election deniers in Georgia will serve on the Fulton County Board of Elections, per an order by a state court issued Sunday. 

The Fulton County Board of Commissioners originally voted 5-2 in May to reject Julie Adams and Jason Frazier from serving on the board of elections, but the county Republican party sued claiming the Board of Commissioners violated state law by rejecting Adams’ and Fraziers’ nominations. 

The Fulton County Superior Court found that the Board of Commissioners did not have the authority to reject Adams and Frazier. “The court also notes that the appointment statute contains no provision to support the respondents’ position that it should have the power to veto any given nominee and force the county chairperson to submit other nominees,” Fulton Superior Court Judge David Emerson wrote in his order.

Adams, who previously served on the Fulton Board of Elections and was up for reappointment in May, was at the center of a 2024 controversy when she refused to certify the county’s primary election results. Adams also has ties to the Cleta Mitchell-led Election Integrity Network (EIN) and the far-right group Tea Party Patriots. She previously refused to certify her county’s primary election because she claimed she didn’t have access to all information about the voting process in order to verify the results. 

Adams filed three unsuccessful lawsuits to get sensitive election data — including a list of all registered voters, voter check-in lists from each precinct and a list of all voters who requested, received and/or returned absentee ballots — in order to certify the election.

Frazier also has a history of promoting election denialism in the Peach State: In August 2024, he filed a lawsuit against the Fulton County election board falsely claiming that they failed to properly maintain the county’s voter rolls and respond to voter challenges. The lawsuit was voluntarily dismissed a month later.

“It’s not possible to work with folks trying to sow discord and chaos,” Commissioner Mo Ivory said during the board’s meeting to consider Adams’ and Frazier’s appointments.

In his order, Emerson wrote that “the lack of these appointments harms the election process and deprives the nominating party of representation on the BOE.”