Georgia State Election Board debates Fulton County election monitors

ATLANTA — Some members of the State Election Board in Georgia want to appoint a panel of election skeptics to monitor Fulton County elections — though it’s not clear they have the authority to do it.

On Monday two members of the state board — Janice Johnston and Janelle King — expressed support for a plan for each member of the board to appoint two members to a team that would ensure Fulton County complies with election rules in November. Johnston said she wanted at least some of the appointees to come from a group that includes members who have expressed doubt about Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election.

Fulton County has already approved a team of election monitors — a team also approved by the secretary of state’s office. Under an agreement approved in the spring, the State Election Board also was supposed to consent to the team, but board members have not been able to agree on an approach.

Johnston proposed a team of 10 monitors, with two each appointed by each member of the State Election Board. Board member Rick Jeffares proposed another option: a team with five members each appointed by the State Election Board, the secretary of state and Fulton County.

State Election Board Chairman John Fervier presented both options to Fulton County recently. But at its own recent meeting, the Fulton election board noted that Fervier offered nothing in writing. With poll worker training beginning the following week, the board reaffirmed its own plan.

The county’s team is led by Ryan Germany, the former chief counsel in the secretary of state’s office. He gained national attention by disputing then-President Donald Trump’s election fraud claims during a January 2021 phone call in which Trump asked Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” the votes Trump needed to win the election.

The county’s team also includes the Carter Center, founded by former President Jimmy Carter, which has monitored about 130 elections in 40 countries.

Johnston and King objected to that team Monday.

“I’m completely opposed to the Ryan Germany team,” King said.

On Monday, Fervier agreed to ask Germany whether he would consider accepting team members proposed by the state board. Johnston said she wanted at least some of the members to come from a team that includes election deniers. Among them are Heather Honey, a conservative activist who sought to discredit 2020 election results, and Frank Ryan, a former Pennsylvania representative who questioned election results there.

But the board may not have the authority to compel Germany and Fulton County to accept its proposed members.

“We don’t have the authority to force this,” said Sara Tindall Ghazal, a Democratic member of the board. “That has been made very clear by the attorney general.”

The agreement to monitor Fulton elections followed a State Election Board reprimand of the county for double-scanning ballots during the recount of the 2020 presidential race.

The state board has come under fire for several decisions since new appointments created a majority of members who have questioned the results of the 2020 election. Biden’s victory was affirmed by two recounts, and numerous investigations found no fraud on a scale that would have changed the outcome.

_____

(Staff writer Mark Niesse contributed to this article.)

_____