Fulton County doesn't have to seat election deniers on election board, Georgia appeals court says

ATLANTA (CN) — Siding with Fulton County, the Georgia Court of Appeals on Friday said commissioners did not have to seat two Republican election deniers to the county Board of Registration and Elections.

In a unanimous opinion, Georgia’s second-highest court ruled that the commissioners’ power to appoint nominees to the board is discretionary, not mandatory.

The Fulton County Republican Party argued commissioners were required to appoint its nominees, Julie Adams and Jason Frazier. It sued the board, seeking to force them to do so. The GOP’s argument hinged on the statutory wording of the law, which says the board “shall” appoint two Republicans and two Democrats nominated by their respective county party chairperson. Board members serve for two-year terms.

The Georgia Court of Appeals disagreed.

“We conclude that when the local law speaks of the Commissioners’ power to ‘appoint,’ it contemplates the exercise of that well-established power as a discretionary one,” Presiding Judge Anne Barnes wrote. She said those decisions were “not subject to direction by the courts in the absence of gross abuse, which cannot be found here.”

Barnes was joined on the appellate panel by judges Todd Markle and Kenneth Hodges.

To remedy the issue, the judges wrote that just like in the past, the Fulton Republican Party can submit new nominees to the commissioners for consideration.

The decision dissolves a lower court’s order to hold some commissioners in civil contempt for failing to approve the nominees. The appellate judges said it was that order — not the commissioners’ decision — that was an abuse of discretion.

In August, a Fulton County judge ordered the county to pay $10,000 a day until it appointed Adams and Frazier. The judgement was put on hold as the commissioners appealed.

“Some of the commissioners concluded that Frazier and Adams should not serve on the BRE [Board of Registration and Elections]. In doing so, they were exercising their constitutional prerogative to exercise their judgment as to these appointments on behalf of the people who elected them,” Barnes wrote.

Democratic commissioners voted to not approve the nominations of Frazier and Adams in May over concerns about their credibility.

A state law passed after the 2020 elections allows anyone to contest an unlimited amount of voters’ qualifications.

Frazier has become one of the most prolific challengers of voter registrations in Georgia. In just Fulton County — Georgia’s largest base of Democratic voters — he has challenged the eligibility of roughly 10,000 voters.

His mass challenges, most of which have been thrown out, have already caused him to twice be denied twice a spot on the county election board, as commissioners feared he would undermine public confidence in elections.

In 2024, Frazier unsuccessfully sued Fulton county in an attempt to force the board of registration and elections to purge nearly 2,000 Fulton county voters from the state’s rolls just days before that year’s presidential election.

Adams, a former election board member, abstained from certifying primary election results in 2024. She unsuccessfully sued the board, claiming she had discretion to refuse to certify the results.

Adams has also worked for the Election Integrity Network, a controversial group founded by Cleta Mitchell, a Trump ally who aided his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia and elsewhere.

Friday’s ruling marks a pivotal win for Fulton County commissioners as they continue to face political pressure from President Donald Trump. Trump, who has blamed his 2020 defeat in part on the county’s handling of elections, was indicted here for his efforts to overturn his election loss to Joe Biden.

The commissioners are also wrapped up in another legal battle, after the FBI in January suddenly seized all county ballots and election materials from 2020.

Echoing concerns from other Democrats, Robb Pitts, the Democratic chair of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners, expressed fears that the action was part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to take over state elections. He noted that Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was present at the raid despite not being part of the FBI or typically involved in domestic or criminal matters.

Follow @Megwiththenews