Georgia bill clears Senate that would let state take over local election boards
By: ajc
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The Georgia Senate approved a bill Wednesday that would allow the state to take over local election offices that fail to meet standards.
Senate Bill 89 would allow the State Election Board to establish criteria for “low-performing” election offices and, if they don’t improve, to replace the local officials with new election superintendents indefinitely.
“The state has come down on Fulton County numerous times, but we still see systemic problems,” said Sen. John Albers , R-Roswell.
Critics said the state already has the authority to investigate and hold local officials accountable. They say the proposal would usurp local control of elections guaranteed in the Georgia Constitution.
The measure passed by a vote of 35-18.
SB 89 is one of a slew of bills that seek to reshape voting in Georgia in the wake of a 2020 election that confirmed Georgia’s status as a national partisan battleground. The state helped deliver the presidency to Democrat Joe Biden and flipped control of the U.S. Senate.
Under current law, Georgia elections are run by officials in each of its 159 counties. In most counties, elections are overseen by bipartisan election boards, although elections in some are run by probate judges.
The State Election Board — chaired by the secretary of state — establishes rules for the conduct of elections and has the authority to investigate and punish violations.
Under SB 89, the state board would establish criteria for “low-performing” local offices based on previous election law violations, voter “inconvenience” due to poor administration, departure from best practices and other criteria.
If low-performing jurisdictions failed to improve, the state board could suspend the local board or probate judge and appoint one or more people to replace them. The bill would allow the suspended local officials to seek reinstatement, but it does not put a time limit on the suspensions. That would be up to the State Election Board.
The bill also would create an “elections assistance officer” in the secretary of state’s office. The officer would be responsible for training poll workers and providing other assistance to local election officials.
Some Senate Democrats said the secretary of state and the state board already have the authority to hold local election officials accountable.
“The law is pretty strong as it is,” said Sen. Jen Jordan , D-Atlanta.
Senate President Pro Tem Butch Miller , R-Gainesville, the bill’s sponsor, said the current system of enforcement leaves it to local authorities to decide whether they want to take steps to improve.
“We’re asking a low-performing board to discipline themselves,” Miller said.
The bill now goes to the House of Representatives.
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I am posting the same story a second time for the sake of transparency. Yesterday I posted what was essentially the exact same story coming from Charlie Kirk. It was censored.
Same story with the same meaning as Georgia Bill clears Senate.
Complaint filed
Trump and his supporters are off topic
I am off topic.
Charlie is just another conspiracy theorist that America would do well without.
How about The Atlanta Journal Constitution?
They're fine ... carry on.
So, the story is essentially the same as it was yesterday.
Do you still have a link to Charlie's 'article'?
Not for you progressive leftists to decide for the rest of us....
Here: https://charliekirk.com/news/state-senate-in-georgia-passes-bill-requiring-photo-id-for-absentee-voting/
I'll wait for Vic to reply ...
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I liked the Charlie Kirk sourced seeded article better. It was a flat out lie to say that his article and the separate different one he linked to at Breitbart were in any way the same article.
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NT members that pull back door bullshit on seeds deserve a long suspension.
NT members who constantly taunt and troll shouldn't even be here.
So, I thought you were all for local control?
Seems a little bit like window dressing to me.
It doesn't sound horrible, just sounds like the creation of law for what probably is now just regulatory statute. I wonder how stretchy they will try to make the terms in actual application.
Florida got its mess under control and now is the time for Georgia to do likewise.
Yeah, by not using a hole punch.
Georgia is finally doing the right thing here.
How so? What EXACTLY was wrong with the system already? And "black people voted" or "a democrat won" do not qualify.
This sums up the issue here perfectly!
perfectly stated!
Before I would ever even consider supporting a bill like this it would have to contain specific and clearly defined standards for what is “low performing”. Like I want EXACT numerical figures for what would make a local election office fall into that category.
This makes it sound extremely open ended and thus I have to assume the only actual purpose for this legislation is to make elections go a certain way.
There should be some type of standard metric that applies to all counties with defined trigger points. Otherwise the "low performing" districts can be considered on a seemingly arbitrary manner. That would be worse than no legislation. We really should see the actual Bill...
The formatting is mine. I think it is easier to read.
The Whole thing is here but this paragraph is pertinent