The Georgia state electoral committee on Wednesday appointed a Republican majority body to review the performance of the Fulton County’s electoral committee, another step towards a possible Republican takeover of the electoral system in the state’s largest Democratic district.
The three-person body will include two Republicans and one Democrat: Rickey Kittle, a Republican member of the Catoosa County Electoral Committee; Stephen Day, a Democratic member of the Gwinnett County Electoral Committee; and Ryan Germany, attorney in the office of Brad Raffensperger, Republican Secretary of State.
The moves related to the Fulton County Electoral Committee came as Republican-controlled legislatures across the country to gain more power over the electoral administration, often attempting to evade election officials and hand them over to partisan lawmakers. Those efforts come as former President Donald J. Trump continues to spread lies and conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.
Republicans have also pushed for many Georgia district electoral committees to be restructured, potentially allowing more local GOP officials to take up positions.
The State Election Board was required to appoint the body to review Fulton County under the Georgia Republican Electoral Law passed in March. Republican lawmakers representing the county moved for the review last month.
Fulton County, the largest in the state and encompassing much of Atlanta, has a long history of struggling with elections, including a disastrous June 2020 primary that left the polling line for hours.
But Democrats across the state have denounced the demand for a performance review there, noting that there had been no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the past year and that election results were confirmed by three recounts and audits. The Democrats see the request as a political ploy at best and as a partisan takeover of power in the most momentous district for their party in Georgia at worst.
President Biden won Fulton County in November with 73 percent of the vote and more than 380,000 votes. It is home to most of the colored voters in the state. Mr Trump and his Republican allies have falsely denied Mr Biden’s narrow victory in Georgia, which was solidly Republican for a long time but targeted the Democrats in the presidential election and two Senate runoffs last year.
Suffrage groups criticized the review panel – all white and mostly Republican – for being unrepresentative of Fulton County.
“Fulton County’s voters deserve better,” said Lauren Groh-Wargo, executive director of Fair Fight Action, a Georgia constituency founded by former Democratic candidate for governorship, Stacey Abrams.
The Review Board is one of several provisions in Georgia’s new electoral law that creates the basis for partisan legislators to take over electoral administration.
But any change in control of the Fulton County Electoral Committee would be a lengthy process that, given the many steps required by electoral law, would likely take months.
Mr. Raffensperger, the Foreign Minister, showed his support for the body and wrote on Twitter: “I have long said that the state needs the authority to intervene when counties have consistently let their voters down.”
“I am confident that the performance review team will do a good job and I hope Fulton will cooperate in this process,” he said.
