Georgia Board of Elections Meeting Presents Rays of Hope

Atlanta, GA — GRA members from across the state and other election integrity proponents gathered at the State Capitol Tuesday morning for the State Board of Elections Meeting where cases, public comments, and proposed rule changes were examined. It was also the first meeting where Janelle King, newly appointed from the Georgia House of Representatives, joined the Board, which seems to have had a positive impact. King recently replaced registered lobbyist Ed Lindsey.

An estimated 255 patriots attended, requiring the Board to open two overflow rooms.

Dr. Janice Johnston came into the meeting swinging from the very beginning, making a motion to revisit the Rossi case. The Chair held that motion out of order, and Dr. Johnston immediately appealed the decision of the Chair. That led to the Board going into executive session to deliberate. When the Board came back into the public forum, Rick Jeffares joined with the Democrat-appointed member of the state Board and the Governor’s appointed member Chairman John Fervier to block the effort. Off to that rocky start, things began to get better as the day progressed.

Garland Favarito was given 15 minutes to expound on concerns related to the Rossi case, such as, thousands of missing ballot images, ballots that appear to have been counted twice, and Fulton County’s unwillingness to comply with Open Records Requests to examine the actual ballots. He graciously and succinctly laid out a persuasive case for the Board and then introduced other elections experts who would also testify to the problems. According to expert computer technician Patrick Parikh, there is a loss of “SHA files” related to the meta-data in the Dominion voting machines that make them dubious and vulnerable to hacking.

The public comments were overwhelmingly favorable to election integrity. Over 50 people had signed up for public comment at two minutes each. Sam Carnline, Jason Frazier, and Matt Rowenczak were among them. GRA member Holly Kessler from Savannah reported, “There is a pattern of manipulation. … I have the Ware County duplicates. … We are going into the most critical times of elections in our lives. It’s up to the [Board of Elections] to figure this out. We do support you, but we are asking you to step up and do the right thing!”

GRA member Tim Talbot from Gainesville said, “You need to act!”

Janelle King asked one of the commenters opposing election integrity reform whether saying an election was “certified” means that an election “happened” or if it means the election was “correct.”

Cobb RA member Salleigh Grubbs (the Chairwoman of the Cobb GOP) won a solid victory on a rule proposal she presented before the Board in the afternoon. Salleigh’s proposal would have clarified that before local county Boards of Elections certify an election, they must first examine irregularities or inconsistencies to make sure the election was conducted accurately. So, for example, if the number of ballots cast is different from the total number of votes, this would be investigated and corrected before finalizing the report of the election results in a precinct or county. 

Chairman Fervier objected to Salleigh’s proposal, saying that it conflicted with a proposed rule change he had on the agenda. Salleigh replied to him with a polite smile, “I like my rule better than yours.”

Dr. Johnston expressed concern that the “guidelines” in Fervier’s proposal would create more restrictions on accountability. “It’s already too complicated,” added Janelle King.

After much discussion, when the Board voted on Salleigh’s proposal, Rick Jeffares (nominated by Lt. Governor Burt Jones) was the third vote in favor of Salleigh’s proposal. King and Johnston also voted in the affirmative.

The packed room exploded in applause with that win.