Task Force Created To Review Fulton County Elections Process

FULTON COUNTY, GA — Fulton County Commissioners voted June 17 to create an elections task force to review issues associated with the June 9 primary, all past elections, and recommend improvements for all upcoming elections.

Fulton County Commission Vice Chairman and District 5 Commissioner Marvin S. Arrington, Jr. proposed creating a board-sponsored task force on the election and issues that occurred at the polls. Task force members will review elections worker training, adequate staffing and available polling sites.

Commissioners took the actions after voters experienced lines and waits to cast their ballots, cancellations, or changes to precincts days before the election because of fears of workers and precinct hosts about the risks related to COVID-19. The task force will review issues surrounding the primary election and work with registrations and elections to identify solutions and backup plans that will ensure a smooth process for voters who want to cast their ballots for the Aug. 11 runoff election scheduled for Fulton County and the state of Georgia.

Set to end December 2022, this board-sponsored task force will also review issues from all past elections and make recommendations for all future elections.

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced after the June 9 primary that he will investigate Fulton and DeKalb counties over voting problems.

"The voting situation today in certain precincts in Fulton and DeKalb counties is unacceptable," Raffensperger said in a statement. "Obviously, the first time a new voting system is used, there is going to be a learning curve, and voting in a pandemic only increased these difficulties. But every other county faced these same issues and were significantly better prepared to respond so that voters had every opportunity to vote."

Several counties in the Atlanta metro — mainly Fulton and DeKalb — already were experiencing long lines and voting-machine problems by the time Raffensperger made his announcement at midday. Both counties are largely run by Democrats, while Raffensperger is a Republican.

Georgia House Speaker David Ralston, a Republican, announced an investigation of his own through the House Governmental Affairs Committee.

"We are hearing anecdotes from around the state — particularly in Fulton County — this morning of unacceptable deficiencies: poll works not being properly trained, voting equipment not working and absentee ballots not being received, among other issues," Ralston said in a statement. "Our poll workers give of their time to serve Georgians, and they do not deserve to be blamed for systemic problems beyond their control."

An hour earlier, Georgia's GOP issued a statement of its own, blaming Democrats.

"Just hours into Election Day, it has already become painfully apparent that Fulton County's Democrat leadership is woefully unprepared to conduct today's primary vote," GOP Executive Director Stewart Bragg said in a statement on the party's website. "The chair of the Fulton County Registration and Elections Board is a Democrat donor and a Democrat primary voter whose failed management has led to long lines, voting machine malfunctions, and scores of other avoidable problems."

Democrats disagreed. Steve Bradshaw, presiding officer of the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners, said to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution before Raffensperger's announcement of an investigation that it was "astounding" the state would blame counties.

"I was raised that if you mess up, fess up," Bradshaw told the Journal-Constitution.