(Georgia Recorder) — The three GOP members of the Georgia State Election Board convened an emergency meeting Friday to press forward with several new election rules in a rush to have new procedures in place for the November election, sparking accusations of state open meetings law violations.
A couple hundred people packed inside a state Capitol room for the impromptu hearing where Democratic party members and progressive voting rights advocates shouted “shame” and waved signs reading “this meeting is illegal” as GOP board members Janice Johnston, Rick Jeffares, and Janelle King conducted an “emergency meeting” scheduled about 24 hours prior.
Jeffares and King, the two newest members of the election board, threatened to remove disruptive individuals from a meeting, which would culminate in the adoption of two new election rules and the threat of legal action for violating open meetings rules.
King quickly defended the timing of the meeting against claims it violated the Georgia Open Meetings Act, saying that she sought the legal advice of the board’s attorney who agreed it was a continuation of a meeting that began on Tuesday, which only requires 24 hours public notice to resume.
According to King, Tuesday’s meeting ended abruptly at 5 p.m. by board Chairman John Fervier, who decided to reconvene the meeting Wednesday morning without consulting GOP board members about any potential scheduling conflicts. On Wednesday, the meeting was called back from recess with only two members in attendance, which would have put on hold the finalization of several rules that the Republican-controlled board approved on Tuesday.
If the meeting is not officially ended, then any progress made this week could be pushed back to the next regular meeting scheduled for Aug. 6, further condensing the timeline to have new election procedures ready for the Nov. 5 election, she said.
King read the Georgia code stating that election boards may meet upon the call of the chairperson or whenever two of their members request it.
“We did not get one phone call from an attorney telling us that what we’re doing was illegal,” King said. “We were told that all we had to do is make sure you have 24 hours, because according (state code), as long as the majority of the board calls for a meeting then we can do that.”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported after the meeting Friday that Republican Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr warned all members of the board that the emergency meeting could violate the state’s Open Meetings Act.
Sara Tindall Ghazal, a Democratic Party election board member, challenged her fellow board members’ decision before Friday’s meeting, saying it violated state transparency laws and failed to follow proper procedures.
Ghazal, an attorney who has practiced election law, referenced the state law which stipulates that the chair of the election board will schedule meetings, that seven days’ notice is required for regular board meetings, and that emergency meetings may only be held when a threat to “public health, safety, or welfare is imminent.”
Ghazal and groups including the state Democratic party contended that the Republican board members were circumventing a law requiring the chair to officially schedule board meetings. Georgia law requires that proposed election rules and amendments are posted online for public comment for 30 days before they can be finalized.
In addition, Ghazal cast doubts on whether the meeting on Friday met the state’s open meetings requirements since board Johnston appeared via virtual streaming, which she said is not allowed to be counted for the three-person majority needed for a quorum.
Georgia’s Open Meetings Act says that only members who participate in person can be counted as part of the quorum needed to conduct government business.
“We got here because roughly half of Tuesday’s meeting was spent trying to relitigate the 2020 election and did not leave enough time to discuss the petition presented to the board for rulemaking,” she said.
Republicans in Georgia have overhauled the state’s election laws and made other procedural changes to the voting process following former President Donald Trump’s narrow 2020 defeat to President Joe Biden.
The meeting ended Friday with Republican and pro-Trump voting groups cheering the passage of several rules they said would further their efforts to weed out voting fraud and improve election integrity in Georgia.
The State Election Board approved two proposed rules Friday, including a requirement that local election officials post daily updates on their websites and inside polling places during early voting. Another measure would provide poll watchers greater access on election nights while county workers process ballots.
Georgia Republican Party Chairman Josh McKoon commended State Election Board members Johnston, Jeffares, and King for what he argued amounted to supporting transparency in elections.
“I also want to thank the NUMEROUS grassroots activists who have given up their time and money to focus public attention on this issue. They have demonstrated their fearless ability to show up, stand up, and most importantly, speak up time and time again!” McKoon said in a statement. “To be clear, our work here is not complete. However, Georgia voters can have more confidence in knowing they will have the lawful right to monitor the vote counting process from early voting to election day to final tabulation!”
Fair Fight, a voting rights advocacy organization based in Georgia, claimed that the meeting was illegal since Fervier is responsible for notifying each board member of any planned meeting, even if it is at the request of two other board members.
“Today’s state election board ‘meeting’ is a farce – deliberately scheduled when all members could not attend and without input from the Chair,” Lauren Groh-Wargo, Fair Fight CEO, said in a statement. “Masquerading as official business, the sham meeting set up by the Republican Members is an effort by the MAGA operation to advance their election sabotage scheme ahead of November.”
Richard T. Griffiths, spokesman and president emeritus for the Georgia First Amendment Foundation, said even if the Friday meeting was not clearly in violation of the open meeting law, it still came across as unnecessary “stunts” that violated the intent of the law designed to hold government agencies and officials accountable.
“Could the meeting possibly be technically legal? Well, maybe a court might find that true, but it goes against the very spirit of the Open Meetings Act, which is a transparent process that allows the public to see and understand what’s going to happen,” Griffiths said.
In the wake of the 2020 election, Republican lawmakers passed an election law overhaul in 2021 that limited the authority of the secretary of state with the election board and also set higher thresholds for the state board to adopt emergency voting rules.
Conservative legislators had objected to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger issuing several emergency rules during the 2020 election, including mailing absentee ballot request forms to every registered voter in response to the pandemic public health threat.
“If you really look at (Senate Bill 202), the secretary of state was severely constrained in what could be considered an emergency meeting to adopt rules. It had to be at risk of life or limb,” Ghazal said.
