Protesters lodged accusations of open meetings violations at three conservative State Election Board members on July 12. Board member Rick Jeffares, right, responds by threatening to remove people for being disruptive while Janelle King (left) looks on. Stanley Dunlap/Georgia Recorder
The Georgia State Election Board will meet for the first time since several conservative board members advanced election rules at a meeting on July 12 that has come under fire for allegedly violating Georgia’s Open Meetings Act.
According to the notice and agenda for the recently scheduled State Election Board’s virtual meeting on July 30, the five-member panel will confirm the business conducted during the meeting on July 9 and move any unfinished business to the Aug. 6 meeting. The state board’s virtual meeting is set for Tuesday at 3 p.m.
Tuesday’s meeting is set in the wake of a lawsuit filed by American Oversight on July 19 against conservative appointed election board members Rick Jeffares, Janice Johnston, and Janelle King alleging they failed to provide timely public notice for the July 12 meeting that did not have enough board members present. Those three board members say they are unsure or don’t accept that President Joe Biden was the winner of Georgia’s 2020 presidential election.
During its regularly scheduled meeting On July 9, the board advanced several rules, moving forward changes that require public notification for 30 days before final adoption at a subsequent meeting. The three members who are unsure of Biden’s 2020 victory rushed to call a meeting later that week to push through more changes in a way that the Georgia Attorney General warned violated the state public meeting laws.
The three approved guidelines for local election officials to certify voting results, changing the process from an administrative duty to an investigative one that could include digging into records and the way votes are counted. With Georgia’s vote in the 2024 presidential election looming this November, the changes would need to be expedited to take effect before early voting begins in mid-October.
The meeting on Tuesday could provide more clarity on the future two election certification rules advanced during an emergency July 12 meeting and whether they will be pushed ahead for discussion during August board meetings.
Government watchdog American Oversight claims the three Republican board members orchestrated an illegal meeting to advance rules that would dramatically increase the number of partisan poll watchers permitted at tabulation centers, burdening election workers in the process. The board chairman and its lone Democratic member were unable to attend the meeting orchestrated by the other three due to prior commitments known in advance by the other members.
Common Cause Georgia sent an email Friday encouraging the public to pay attention to election board meetings that propose changes to Georgia’s election certification process that Georgia voters have relied on for years.
“Georgia voters should pay attention to the process of how the SEB are voting on provisions and rules,” Common Cause said in the emailed statement. “The public and voters should demand transparency and accountability of the SEB.”
Government watchdog American Oversight filed a motion in Fulton County Superior Court seeking a temporary restraining order and an injunction against the rules advanced July 12 by three “rogue members” of the State Election Board.
Election Board Chairman John Fervier scheduled the July 9 meeting to resume the following morning, but the meeting on July 10 was abruptly terminated due to a lack of quorum since only two members were present.
According to King, the July 12 meeting was scheduled at the last minute since the meeting on July 9 was not formally ended. As a result, she argued that the July 12 meeting was in compliance with Georgia’s Open Meetings Act and was necessary to implement rulemaking progress made during the July 9 meeting.
In the July meetings, conservative board members favored proposals for increasing the number of poll watchers parties and candidates could send to vote-counting centers, changing the way local election offices verify vote totals, and giving local election board members more access to election-related materials prior to verifying election results.
The supporters of the proposed rule changes argue that they will increase voter confidence in elections, for example, by enabling partisan poll watchers to observe ballot tabulations. Opponents contend that the new rules would unfairly sow public distrust in the election process by giving local election officials more authority to delay certifying results and allowing partisan poll watchers increased ability to intimidate election workers.
Chioma Chukwu, interim executive director of American Oversight, said that King, Johnston and Jeffares, acting on behalf of the Georgia Republican Party, illegally advanced rules that could undermine the trust of voters and impede their participation in a free and fair election in Georgia.
“Without immediate court intervention, Georgia voters and election workers will be deprived of their right to shape rules that impact their ability to safely participate in free and fair elections,” Chukwu said in a statement. “We trust the court will recognize the urgency and prevent the rules from advancing, protecting Georgians from irreparable harm.”
Meanwhile, another Georgia election watchdog has its own wishlist for the election board to take up in time for Georgia’s November election. Among the proposed rules changes that the election board has not taken up in recent months are pushes to improve “election security and transparency” presented by the Coalition for Good Governance.
Marilyn Marks, executive director for the Coalition for Good Governance, said the election board should set aside its differences and instead adopt emergency rules that mitigate Georgia’s voting system software vulnerabilities.
The coalition sent a letter this week requesting the board take urgent action in time for the November election that includes using printed paper ballots for hand-marking as the standard voting method, installing an electronic ballot marking device in each polling place for voters who require it, and allowing advance voting sites to print ballots on-site.
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