Habersham County officials had to scramble to correct course after moving the county elections office. The Habersham County Elections and Voter Registration Office opened at its new location in Cornelia on February 19. The move separated the office from the county administration building, which was a violation of state law.
Georgia law OCGA 21-2-215(b) states, “In those counties in which the registrars have a main office separate from other county offices, the main office shall be in the courthouse or other public building at the county site.”
Since the new elections and voter registration office operates separately from the county courthouse and county administration building, it was clearly in violation, but no one at the county caught it until people began asking questions.
Seeking answers
Now Habersham emailed the Elections Division of the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office to ask if the move was allowed under state law.
Alexandra Hardin, a paralegal with the Georgia State Election Board, responded by email on Tuesday, Feb. 20.
“I am discussing this matter and how to proceed with the Habersham elections supervisor and the SOS (Secretary of State) elections director today. I can follow up with you on this afterwards,” she replied.
The following day, Habersham County issued a press release informing the public that two employees at the county administration building had been sworn in as Deputy Registrars by Habersham County Elections Supervisor Laurel Ellison.
According to that release, the decision to install receptionist Natiasha Brown and Planning and Development Office employee Laura McCallister as deputy registrars was about “customer service.” The county made no mention that it was being done to bring the county into compliance with state law.
Sidestepping question of legality
On Friday, Feb. 23, Now Habersham asked Ellison and County Manager Alicia Vaughn who decided to deputize the Deputy Registrars at the administration building. Ellison did not respond, and Vaughn sidestepped the issue of who—and why—the decision to deputize new registrars was made.
“We will still provide voter registration services at the administration office. Laurel has deputized two individuals in our office to handle voter registrations,” Vaughn said.
Three days later, Vaughn followed up with this statement to Now Habersham: “Since Habersham County has combined the Board of Elections and the Board of Registrars, there is some conflict in the law that governs. The Boards of Elections may be housed anywhere in the County; it is only the registrar location that is of concern. The rule is that the registrar must be located with other county offices or in the courthouse.”
In her email, the county manager states that to remedy the legal issue, “The SOS agreed that deputizing a deputy registrar to maintain the Office of the Registrars at the administration building was acceptable. And the county responded accordingly.”
Hardin confirmed Vaughn’s statement that the illegal action was remedied.
“The Habersham County elections office has agreed to set up a deputy registrars office at their main county administration building as soon as possible,” she wrote.
‘Under one roof’ didn’t last long
When Habersham County built its new administration building in Clarkesville, it was for the stated purpose of consolidating county offices under one roof.
During the December 2018 dedication service, then-Habersham County Commission Chairman Victor Anderson said, “It’s designed to consolidate all of the county offices with the exception of our public services, our recreation center, which is just adjacent to us, animal control, building maintenance, and just a few other items.”
The new building was intended to become a “one-stop shop” for citizens and vendors to conduct business with the county.
During fiscal year 2018, the county commission approved issuing Certificates of Participation (the note) through the Association County Commissioners of Georgia (ACCG). The amount borrowed from ACCG was $6,380,000 for the construction of the Administration Building for 26 years. The annual payment is just over $400,000 a year and is treated similarly to a lease-purchase agreement. According to Qpublic, the building is owned by the ACCG. The final payment on the building will be made in 2044.
However, in less than four years, the building was beginning to run out of room for some of the county offices.
More space needed
At the May 16, 2022, commission meeting, the Habersham County Board of Elections and Voter Registration recommended the county lease the old Sears space in the old Ingles building in Cornelia.
During that commission meeting, it was revealed that the Elections Office needed more space to store voting machines and election day materials. In 2020, a number of machines were stored in the unused portion of the county courthouse. In 2022, commissioners were told that the elections office was “having to rent a storage space in downtown Clarkesville” to house the voting equipment, precinct supplies, and tables.
The county had also struggled to find a permanent home for the Cornelia voting precinct.
The executive summary presented to the commission on April 11, 2022, said the move would allow the county to consolidate its elections office with the Cornelia South Precinct. Officials also concluded it would provide enough space to house all the voting machines and election day materials for precincts countywide. In addition, the space was large enough to accommodate the legally mandated public viewing area for citizens and the media to watch vote counting after each election.
Taxpayer tab
Based on those recommendations, the commission approved the lease agreement with Ingles Real Estate, the property owner, for $67,599.96 per annually.
Commission Chairman Bruce Palmer signed the lease with an effective date of June 1, 2022. However, the first rent payment was not due until December 2022 due to repairs and some interior demolition that Ingles had to perform caused by a water leak and a roof leak.
The lease agreement has a 3% annual increase provision. At the end of 2024, that will result in an annual lease payment of $71,740.56.
According to Habersham County Finance Manager Tim Sims, the county has paid $54,988.50 in lease payments to Ingles to date.
In June 2023, the county signed a construction contract with Soque Contracting Services, LLC of Toccoa to renovate the 8,500-square-foot space for the Elections Office and South Precinct. The estimated cost of that contract was $263,235.
According to Sims, the total cost of the renovations for the Cornelia location is $339,960. Of that total cost, the county paid Soque Contracting $271,132. The county paid $4,822 in change orders due to materials being unavailable and replacement materials costing more. The county also paid $64,006 of the total cost for renovations to meet state election guidelines.
