We Refused to Seat Two Election Deniers. A Judge Tried to Punish Us for It.
By Dana Barrett and Mo Ivory
“Ms. Barrett, a Democrat, is a Fulton County, Ga., commissioner. Ms. Ivory, a Democrat, is a former Fulton County commissioner. They wrote from Atlanta.
Every official responsible for the conduct of this fall’s midterms faces a simple test: Will you defend the lawful and fair administration of elections? Or will you stand aside while President Trump and his loyalists cast doubt on the results of past elections in an effort to cast doubt on future ones?
Last year, we confronted this question directly. As members of the Fulton County, Ga., Board of Commissioners, we voted against seating two nominees to the county elections board who are among those who have cynically helped to perpetuate the delusion that Georgia’s 2020 presidential election was stolen from Mr. Trump. The county G.O.P. sued us, and a judge held us in contempt, ruling that we were required to vote for these nominees. A week ago, we won our case on appeal.
Despite the favorable outcome, this episode should serve as a warning to all Americans. The right of every citizen to have his or her votes counted accurately and election results respected is the only way our system works. Yet too many Republicans remain committed to the thoroughly bogus idea that Mr. Trump’s loss was really a win.
Here’s how we got here: The rules for choosing our county’s five-member elections board state that the county commission “shall” appoint two members nominated by the party receiving the most votes in the preceding election for Georgia’s state legislature and two members nominated by the party receiving the second largest number of votes. The fifth member is chosen by the county commissioners and becomes the chair.
Fulton County, home to almost all of Atlanta, is majority Democratic. In a two-party system, that means typically the board will consist of three Democrats and two Republicans, which is as it should be: Ensuring that the minority party is represented on the board is the fair thing to do.
But the rules don’t say the commissioners must seat any nominee whom either party submits.
In August, David Emerson, a senior Superior Court judge, ordered that because the rules say “shall be appointed,” we were bound to vote for whomever each party nominated. If that were the case, however, then taking a vote would be purely performative.
In order to conduct fair elections, the county elections board must have members who are willing to accept the basic proposition of any democracy: that in a given election, their party can lose. Neither Republican nominee meets that most basic of criteria.
One is Julie Adams, a member of the elections board who was nominated for reappointment. She is affiliated with the so-called Election Integrity Network. That organization is run by Cleta Mitchell, a lawyer who advised Mr. Trump on the January 2021 phone call during which he pressured Georgia state officials to “find” additional votes that might reverse his 2020 loss. This January, Ms. Adams released a statement praising the F.B.I.’s current sham investigation of the 2020 election results.
The other Republican nominee is Jason Frazier, who made a name for himself by challenging the voter registrations of about 10,000 Georgians. He also reportedlyhelped develop EagleAI, a tool designed to facilitate voter registration challenges.
Neither nominee is suitable — not because they are Republicans, but because they are unfit to oversee voting in our county. They, of course, have a right to their views. But their public statements and actions demonstrate that they have made common cause with Mr. Trump’s efforts at undermining the electoral process.
After we voted no, the Fulton County Republican Party sued us, apparently with the backing of the Republican National Committee. Judge Emerson eventually hit the county commission with a $10,000-a-day fine, which was stayed pending our appeal.
A similar fight arose when the county commission rejected Mr. Frazier in 2023. The local G.O.P. essentially acknowledged our right to reject him by replacing Mr. Frazier with a different nominee. Now Republicans insist we have to rubber-stamp anyone they pick.
In its ruling last week, the Court of Appeals of Georgia reached the only logical conclusion: By voting no, we were simply exercising our “constitutional prerogative” and our “judgment” on behalf of the people who elected us. The appeals court also noted that the trial court had “abused” its discretion by holding us in civil contempt.
It would be easy to think that our case amounts to a local interparty squabble, worsened by a heavy-handed judge. But the stakes are much higher: The president’s approval rating is underwater. He has openly called for Republican-controlled states to conduct mid-decade gerrymanders. Mr. Trump has repeatedly called for federalizing elections, in contravention of the Constitution. At his urging, congressional Republicans are pushing the SAVE America Act, a bill transparently aimed at voter suppression. On Monday, several Republican-appointed Supreme Court justices expressed skepticism about Mississippi’s law regarding mail-in ballots. Earlier this year, the F.B.I. seized documents from a Fulton County election office.
This is not a drill.
It’s why we’ve insisted that the Fulton County Republican Party nominate individuals who meet the minimal standard. And it’s why we’re raising the alarm beyond Georgia.
To secure the franchise, everyone in our body politic has a vital role to play: Demand that your elected representatives support fair elections. Vote regardless of the potential obstacles. Our republican form of government — our freedom — will survive only if we, the people, defend it.“
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