ATLANTA (AP) — Fulton County, Georgia, has hired a team of independent observers to monitor the conduct of this year’s general election, a process that has revealed discord between the staunchly Democratic county and a majority on the State Election Board backed by Donald Trump.
Fulton’s election monitoring was proposed earlier this year by members of the State Election Board as they considered a case against the county involving findings of double-scanning of some ballots during a 2020 recount that ended with a reprimand. The county ultimately opted for a monitoring proposal that was opposed by Republican caucuses, who hold a 3-2 majority on the State Election Board.
The county had the right to do so, according to a legal opinion written by Attorney General Chris Carr and obtained by The Associated Press. Carr wrote that the State Election Board does not have the authority to order an election monitor and that Fulton’s agreement to propose and pay for a monitoring team was voluntary.
Carr’s Aug. 19 opinion warned that if the state board did not approve Fulton’s chosen monitoring team or if the board sought to reopen the 2020 investigation, it “appears highly likely that a monitoring team will not be engaged.”
Despite Carr’s prediction, county commissioners voted 5-2 last week to approve a $99,600 contract proposal from Ryan Germany, a former chief legal officer for the secretary of state’s office. The county’s Board of Registration and Elections had approved the proposal in July and voted to confirm its approval last month.
“We look forward to working with Fulton County and believe this is a demonstration of our commitment to ensuring a smooth 2024 election,” Germany said.
Fulton is the state’s most populous county and includes most of the city of Atlanta. It has drawn national attention over the years for problems with its elections, including long lines and slow reporting of results. Then-President Trump targeted the county after he narrowly lost the 2020 presidential election in Georgia to Democrat Joe Biden, alleging without evidence that widespread voter fraud in Fulton County cost him the victory.
After a particularly disastrous 2020 primary, an independent observer was brought in to investigate the county’s election practices during the general election as part of a contract with the State Election Board. He documented “sloppy processes” and “systematic disorganization,” but found no evidence of illegality or fraud.
Since then, Fulton County’s elections have been closely monitored, and last year the State Election Board decided not to take over the county’s elections after an evaluation found the county had shown marked improvement.
This year’s monitoring team includes Carter Jones, the independent monitor who oversaw the county’s 2020 elections, as well as Germany and Matt Mashburn, a former member of the State Election Board. The Carter Center in Atlanta, which has monitored elections around the world, also plans to provide extensive assistance before, during and after the election, including monitoring polling places and attending training sessions for poll workers and testing equipment.
The Republican majority of the State Election Board, as well as Republicans on the Fulton County Board of Elections and County Commission, all opposed the proposal, which the county adopted last week. They argued that the monitoring team is made up of people, like Germany and Jones, who were too closely involved in the 2020 election, which they claim Fulton County messed up.
The Fulton County Board of Elections considered two monitoring proposals in July and voted 3-2 to accept Germany’s proposal and reject the other. The two Democrats and the board’s chairman expressed concern at the time that it was not entirely clear who was behind the rejected proposal or what their qualifications were.
During meetings in August, the conservative majority of the State Election Board made it clear that they did not like the proposal that the Fulton Election Board had approved. Later that month, the Fulton County Election Board met and confirmed its vote for the German-proposed monitoring team, with the commissioners voting to approve the contract a few days later.
During discussions leading up to those votes, Republican members of each panel objected, saying the county should not move forward with a proposal that the State Election Board had not approved. But Democrats argued that the state board had not submitted a written proposal and that the monitoring team needed to get to work with the election fast approaching.
