Douglas County Officials Found Guilty of Elections Law Violations…Again?

According to my sources the Douglas County Elections Supervisor Laurie Fulton and the county elections board have agreed to another plea agreement (aka consent order) with the state attorney general’s office for violations of Georgia elections laws and board rules that occurred in November 2009. The latest plea agreement may not be released by the state until after the Nov. 2011 elections. The new charges come in the wake of previous violations that occurred in 2008.

The 2008 Case –

An investigation was conducted by the Office of Inspector General and a report was issued on July 9, 2009 based on complaints by Douglas County voters concerning the 2008 elections. The report detailed the testimony of Elections Supervisor Laurie Fulton and elections board members at the time of this case Sylvanus L. Burney IV, John Lawrence, Spencer Hardy, Rochelle Robinson and Aaron Walker.

In the report on the 2008 case, the Inspector General’s office identified 7 “Potential Violations” of state laws and rules which included:

1. Laurie Fulton misspelled the name of a candidate which resulted in the creation of 2 data bases which on election night would not merge and had to be manually entered into a data base. In violation of O.C.G.A 21-2-153 (e) (1)
2. Fulton failed to proof read the ballot to ensure it was accurate. In violation of Elections Board Rule #183-1-12-.02 (3) (a) 3
3. Fulton did not properly and legally advertise the Logic & Accuracy testing of the voting machines. In violation of Board Rule# 183-1-12-.02 (3) (b) 1 (i)
4. Fulton and the Douglas County Board of Elections failed to provide safekeeping, certification, and validation of 67 absentee ballots which were not counted on election night but were later found in a file drawer. In violation of O.C.G.A 21-2-386 (a) (1) (A)
5. Fulton and Board of Elections concluded tabulations of the vote on election night while there were 76 absentee ballots outstanding. In violation of Elections Board  Rule# 183-1-12-.02 (5) (d)
6. Fulton and the Board of Elections failed to certify the recount votes that had changed and been submitted to the Secretary of State’s office on December 16, 2008. In violation of O.C.G.A. 21-2-495 (c)
7. Fulton and the Board of Elections willfully neglected to certify the recount of the election after they knew that the vote totals changed in almost every race. In violation of O.C.G.A. 21-2-596

On August 27, 2009, the State Board of Elections voted to “refer” items 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 to the Attorney General’s office for potential prosecution.

On June 9, 2010, the case was again heard before the State Board of Elections with Assistant Attorney General Ann Brumbaugh recommending the acceptance of a plea agreement and a cease and desist order on 2 of the 5 counts. In the plea agreement, Douglas County accepted a fine of $1000 on two of the five counts. The other charges were not dismissed by the state. State Elections board members felt the remaining charges were issues for the state courts to determine if violations occurred. 

I and other voters from Douglas County attended the hearing in Atlanta. We strongly voiced our concerns over the relatively minor punishment for the violations calling the punishment a “slap on the wrist”. We felt the state was attempting to cover up the violations and demanded tougher sanctions. Citizens questioned who would pay the fines, taxpayers or the defendants and added that we do not want taxpayers to be stuck with paying for the violations of elections officials. Ms. Fulton and some of the same board members are still running Douglas County elections.

The 2009 Case –

The current case began on November 19, 2009 when citizens filed complaints with the Georgia State Elections Board alleging violations of state laws. During the investigation, I was called by state investigators seeking my knowledge of any alleged violations and was interviewed. A hearing on the new charges was held in Macon earlier this year. I will publish the details of the plea agreement as soon as they are publicly released.

In the meantime, voters will be watching the Nov. 8, 2011 elections process very closely. The violations of the elections board have caused Douglas County voters to question the integrity of our elections process.