The Georgia Secretary of State’s Office is investigating the recent House District 28 race between incumbent Rep. Dan Gasaway and former Banks County School Superintendent Chris Erwin.
A “Districting Issue”
Secretary of State Press Secretary Candice Broce says, “I can confirm that we have opened an investigation in the HD 28 race.”
Investigators are looking into a “Habersham County Districting Issue”, according to the investigative case sheet Broce provided to Now Habersham. “It (the case sheet) is the only record that we release while a State Election Board investigation is ongoing,” she says.
The document offers few details other than to state that the investigation was opened and an investigator assigned on May 30, eight days after the primary.
Gasaway and Erwin were the only candidates to run for the District 28 House seat in the primary. Both are Republicans. Erwin won by 67 votes.
Confusion at the polls
House District 28 includes all of Banks and Stephens counties and the eastern part of Habersham. In Habersham, the district generally runs east of a line along GA 365/US 441 and includes the Town of Mt. Airy.
The rest of Habersham County is in State House District 10. Rep. Terry Rogers (R-Clarkesville) represents that district. He ran unopposed in the May primary.
There were two separate ballots for District 28 and District 10 voters in the primary. Now Habersham spoke with one voter who says he and his wife were given the wrong ballots at their precinct.
They voted at the First Baptist Church of Cornelia. Although they live in District 28 (“100%” he assures) he says poll workers gave them District 10 ballots. The couple was confused but chose not to question the poll workers. “We put too much faith in our own county to get it right,” says the voter, who asked not to be identified.
He says he researched the candidates before the election and intended to vote for Gasaway, but was not given that opportunity. He knows how contentious the House District 28 race was but insists his concerns aren’t about that.
“This is not a Dan thing,” he stresses. “People should have the right to vote for who they’re supposed to vote for. We feel cheated.”
Uncertainty
Now Habersham reached out to Habersham County Elections Superintendent Laurel Ellison and asked if she was aware of any voting anomalies and/or the investigation. She referred us to the Elections Division of the Secretary of State’s Office.
It’s uncertain at this point whether the State Election Board’s investigation will have any impact on the outcome of the District 28 primary. Secretary of State Brian Kemp certified the election results on Friday, May 31. Candidates have five days after certification to contest the results. If they do, the race could be thrown into a court challenge.
Now Habersham reached out to both Erwin and Gasaway for comment.
Erwin says he was unaware that an investigation was underway.
Gasaway says, “Citizens’ right to vote is a foundational principle of our country. Having the correct ballot, with the correct candidates listed on the ballot, should be something all citizens expect and demand.” He adds, “I have heard from several who received the wrong ballots. This happened with absentee ballots in the 2014 race. I was told the Habersham election board had cleaned this up.”
There is still no indication as to how long the State Election Board investigation might take.
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Updated June 7@4:30pm
