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The Donald Trump-allied Georgia State Election Board is pushing to install people who deny the result of the 2020 presidential election as part of a monitoring team in Fulton County, the biggest Democratic-leaning county in the state and one that was consequential for Joe Biden’s victory four years ago.
The board has no legal authority to install its own recommended monitors, but that did not stop the GOP majority from voting on Tuesday to repeat its effort to include its own suggested monitoring team in Fulton County. The move, coming less than 30 days before Election Day, is the latest example of what critics say is the board acting in a way that may create chaos next month.
Asked by CNN whether this was an effort to get partisan election deniers to be part of the monitoring teams, board member Dr. Janice Johnston said, “absolutely not” while also conceding the decision on who monitors election precincts is ultimately up to the county.
Fulton County, meanwhile, has sued the board, objecting to the push to force it to use election deniers as monitors.
“The State Election Board has no statutory authority to force the Fulton County BRE [Board of Registration and Elections] to accept, and Fulton County to pay for, election monitors hand-picked by the State Election Board,” the lawsuit states.
Fulton County has already agreed to a monitoring team proposal that would include Ryan Germany, a former staff attorney for the Georgia secretary of state during the 2020 election, as well as members of The Carter Center, former President Jimmy Carter’s non-profit organization which has been internationally acclaimed for its election monitoring.
But GOP members of the state-election board told CNN neither Germany nor the Carter Center should be allowed to be a monitor because of bias.
The Carter Center has a world-renowned reputation of election observation, Johnston said, but that’s “in the past.”
“Currently, when I meet people that they hire to be their volunteers through the Carter Center, I oftentimes find people that come from partisan organizations, such as the ACLU and Common Cause,” Johnston said.
Instead, Johnston and her peers are recommending Heather Honey, who previously worked with the Cyber Ninjas, which faced months of criticism over their questionable audit practices, and Col. Frank Ryan, who refused to certify election results in the past. Both fundamentally distrust the results of the 2020 election
“The person that you want is the person that pays attention to the details and reports objectively,” Johnston said in defending the recommendation the board suggested.
Multiple new rules this year have been adopted by three election board members loyal to Trump, who has publicly praised their efforts, and several legal challenges have been filed against the board.
Meanwhile, the board also passed a motion on Tuesday proposed by Johnston to subpoena the Fulton County clerk for access to election-related documents for an investigation into voter irregularities, despite the fact the state’s Republican attorney general said the probe can’t proceed.
This summer, the board revived an inquiry into allegations that roughly 3,000 ballots were counted twice during the 2020 recount, but Attorney General Chris Carr told the board in an official opinion that it did not have legal standing to ask his office to investigate.
Johnston said Carr’s legal opinion was just that – an opinion – and would not stop the board from proceeding with its own investigation.
“My motion is to complete the investigation in that particular case, and actually finish out that investigation,” Johnston said.
Fellow election board Republican Janelle King alleged that Fulton County is operating in bad faith.
“Had they produced these documents when we first asked for them, we wouldn’t be here. Had they worked with us with the monitoring team, we wouldn’t be here,” King told reporters Tuesday.
“This is not the board wanting to put pressure on any county. But if you are not going to listen, if you are not going to be responsive, you are not going to do what you say you are going to do, we have to,” King said.
As for those who still believe the GOP board members are working on behalf of Trump, Johnston told CNN, “I’ve never met the man.”
Johnston said that the board would consult with its legal counsel and the attorney general if Fulton County did not show up for its subpoena.
There is no date scheduled for the next election board meeting, and Tuesday was expected to be the final one before the November 5 election.
