(The Center Square) – The Fulton County Board of Commissioners voted to table a decision on the appointment of two Republicans to the county’s board of elections.
Fulton County Judge David Emerson ordered the board to appoint Julie Adams and Jason Frazier to the board after they were recommended by the Republican Party to serve.
Georgia law states that the local election boards should have two members each from the Republican and Democratic parties. Local county commissions appoint a chairman.
Commissioners Mo Ivory and Dana Barrett voted against them in a 2-2 tie, with three commissioners not voting during a meeting in August.
After the vote, Emerson issued an order that would fine commissioners $10,000 a day until Frazier and Adams are appointed. Emerson stayed the order last week pending an appeal from Fulton County.
Speakers lined up for and against the appointments before the vote. Those included Sen. Josh McLaurin, D-Sandy Springs, who spoke against the appointments while surrounded by other state lawmakers.
“The people who are being nominated for these roles by the local GOP have the intention to undermine our elections,” said McLaurin, who is running for lieutenant governor. “Giving a vote to the GOP in this situation is to feed a bottomless hole of demands that ultimately result in undermining the very system of elections that keeps our democracy strong.”
Fulton County Commissioner Bridget Thorne said Republicans should have the right to have the people they selected.
“If anything, this fight to keep Julie and Jason off the board has only strengthened the fight of the Republican Party because you must have something to hide if you don’t want these two on there,” Thorne said.
Thorne and Commissioner Bob Ellis voted against the motion to table the vote on the appointments.
“The whole political theater around a fake controversy is being used for commissioners to fund raise for their campaigns,” Thorne said on social media. “This is political theater at its finest. Jason Frazier and Julie Adam’s will be board members. But how much will it cost Fulton taxpayers in the meantime? I will be tracking every penny.”
