Elections Board Rejects Challenge To Eligibility of County Voters

The Oconee County Board of Elections and Registration on Monday unanimously rejected a challenge by Oconee County resident Patricia Daugherty on behalf of Houston, Texas, based True The Vote of the eligibility of 1,450 Oconee County voters to participate in the Jan. 5 runoff election.

The motion passed by the Board said there was no probable cause of a violation of Georgia law that would render the voters ineligible to cast a ballot.

Kirk Shook, the Republican Party representative on the Board, made the motion to reject the challenge, and Ken Davis, the Democratic Party representative on the Board, offered the second.

The Board took the action after a half-hour of deliberations led by County Attorney Daniel Haygood.

Daugherty, 5041 Price Mill Road, west of Bishop, did not attend the meeting but sent to Haygood an email after it was completed asking for the “determination” that each of the 1,450 voters was in fact qualified.

Haygood responded on Tuesday morning that no further action is planned by the Board of Elections and Registration and that Daugherty is free to appeal to Oconee County Superior Court.

Early voting continues through Thursday, with 10,457 voters having cast a ballot in person at the Civic Center, 2661 Hog Mountain Road, west of Butler’s Crossing, by the end of the day on Monday. The hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The Board of Elections and Registration also has received 3,695 returned absentee ballots, for a total of 14,152 votes cast to date. That is 44.2 percent of the county’s 31,985 registered voters.

For more on this story, with a video of the Board of Elections and Registration meeting, please go to Oconee County Observations.