I attended the “Special Called Meeting” of the Fayette County Board of Elections on July 16 at 3:00 p.m. I’m summarizing the meeting below to the best of my ability.
I went to the meeting because it was my understanding that the voting eligibility of 5,000 people (the board rounded the number) was being challenged. In attendance were a few Board of Elections employees, a county lawyer, the three board members and six people in the audience.
The long and the short of the 40-minute meeting was this: One un-named individual in the county challenged the legitimacy of 5,000 voters on the roll. Most of the people had moved and the remaining were associated with commercial addresses. People in residential homes — such as assisted living — parsonages, and businesses where someone resides may have a commercial address.
Within a very short time it was determined that only 1 — ONE — of the 5,000 challenges had any validity. 4000+ of the names on the list were of people who had moved to another state and all the appropriate steps to make sure they can’t vote in Georgia are in play or have been completed.
The remaining contested voters have commercial addresses as noted above. All three board members agreed to move forward with only needing to investigate the one reasonable challenge.
Choosing to address the board, I said: “Thank you for your service. This meeting was conducted civilly and in the manner that business should be done. Last week I attended the State Election Board meeting regarding changes in voting laws/procedures. Things weren’t quite so calm.
“An emergency meeting was called by the SEB for Friday, July 12. Citizens and government officials are now investigating the meeting for its legality. It appears to me that some of the changes in election laws and procedures are simply there to ‘gum up the works,’ a solution in search of a problem. I understand and accept that things won’t always go in my favor. But, I support free and fair elections.”
I appreciate the fact that our leaders are following the law; not playing games. They are doing their best to use common sense, and not waste tax dollars or the valuable and limited time of employees.
I encourage you to read the Brennan Center for Justice’s article about Georgia’s changes to our elections.
Register to vote and vote!
Kimberly Hearn
Fayetteville, Ga.
Thank you to board of elections for researching 5,000 to 6,000 registered voters to ensure the integrity our our elections in Fayette County. It is not small job. Thank you for your service and for explaining the process to the people that no longer believe in our great country!
The county employees made it clear that the entire process was moving as the law intended. Commercial addresses had been checked out and those who had moved to another state were in the process of being removed from the rolls.
khearn – I believe the law requires that officials ensure all who vote are eligible to vote, but according to your letter, they have not. It appears you are trying to revise history, like the media folks who have deleted all references to Kamala as “border czar” and “the most liberal senator” from 2019.
In your letter, “The remaining contested voters have commercial addresses as noted above. All three board members agreed to move forward with only needing to investigate the one reasonable challenge.” Pretty clear that the 900+ questionable commercial addresses have not been checked out.
And you justify not verifying them as “us(ing) common sense, and not wast(ing) tax dollars or the valuable and limited time of employees.” Sounds to me like hogwash to convince us that we can still have a valid election without checking voter eligibility and voter ID.
Anyone else getting suspicious at one political party so opposed to easy measures that will give everyone confidence in election results?
So, 4,000 people who have moved are still on the voter rolls in Fayette County, but that’s fine?
And 1,000 with commercial addresses don’t need to be checked out?
Definitely not overdoing this “election integrity” thing.
A misleading title, since you admit that 4,000+ of the contested registered voters had moved and were ineligible to vote in Fayette County. That leaves the remaining 900 or so to be further scrutinized.
I’m not reassured after your explanation that the 900 +/- had commercial addresses, which MIGHT be a residential home so no further inquiry was needed. That also leaves the possibility that they are not in a residential home, and are ineligible. Cemeteries have commercial addresses too.
“Saving limited time of employees” is not enough reason to blindly accept almost 1,000 questionable voters. It’s their job to ensure that only eligible voters vote.
I did also check out the Brennan Center, which is a left-leaning advocacy group that produces reports such as “Hidden in Plain Sight: Racism, White Supremacy and Far-Right Militant Groups”. It opposes voter ID laws.
At a time when our nation is already on a razor’s edge about trust / mistrust in our election processes, it is indefensible to advocate for open elections that don’t verify identity, citizenship and eligibility to vote. The US House recently passed a bill requiring proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections, but it will not even be voted on in the Senate due to opposition by Democrats.
There should be no objection to this. Voter fraud should be prevented on the front end so we all have confidence in election results, and not have to witness another 2020 debacle.
I’m not feeling all warm and fuzzy about the 900+ unverified voters in Fayette County either.
Spot on Bill. There can be no trust in the vote count without election integrity. Personally I wish we’d go back to paper ballots with voter I’d required.