Sandy Springs Special Election Complaint Goes To Attorney General's Office

SANDY SPRINGS, GA -- A complaint filed in May concerning the special election to fill the Sandy Springs City Council District 3 seat will now go to Georgia Attorney General's Office for review.

That's according to Jessica Simmons, a spokesperson with Georgia's Secretary of State's Office, who said the case was unanimously bound over during the Dec. 13 State Elections Board meeting.

Simmons could not provide any additional details about what information was provided to the board at its meeting.

The state opened an investigation after it received a complaint form dated Friday, May 20 that specified concerns over precinct notifications and locations.

Specifically, the case was filed under the "Elections-Polling Place Change-No Notice" category, according to the form released in May by the Secretary of State's Office.

Despite the challenge, the city of Sandy Springs went ahead with the special election, which was needed when former Council member Graham McDonald resigned to run for the State House of Representatives.

The race to replace McDonald initially became a five-candidate race for District 3 residents.

However, candidates Chris Burnett and Joe Houseman advanced to the runoff, with Burnett winning the June 21 runoff.

Katelyn McCreary, director of communications for the Attorney General's Office, said the agency will review the investigative files from the Secretary of State's Office to "make sure the facts fit the statutory violations."

If no violation has been found, the case will be kicked back to the State Elections Board with a recommendation that it be dismissed. If the facts do "establish some violation" of the election code, the office will reach out to the respondents to see if they would enter into a consent order, which outlines the facts, violations of the law and a proposed civil sanction.

"The sanctions always include a public reprimand and cease and desist, and most include some monetary penalty," McCreary added. "Most of the cases against election officials or county boards do end up as consent orders. Some of the cases against individual electors or candidates end up as consent orders, but others are scheduled for administrative hearing at OSAH (Office of State Administrative Hearings) where we represent the SEB (State Elections Board) and essentially act as the prosecution."

If the office enters into a consent order, the case will go back before the State Elections Board, which will vote on the recommendation by the Attorney General's Office.

A case that's presented before OSAH will have an initial order issued by the administrative law judge that the elections board has 30 days to accept or reject, McCreary notes.

"Even if OSAH rules in favor of the SEB and issues a sanction, the respondent may then take an appeal to Superior Court," she said. "Our office would continue to represent the SEB in those cases."

Image via Shutterstock