Habersham County officials have quietly acknowledged what one local candidate alleged – that some voters were, in fact, assigned to the wrong State House districts during the May 22 Primary.
That acknowledgement came in the form of a form letter sent by Habersham County Election Supervisor Laurel Ellison.
Reassigning misassigned voters
In a letter viewed by Now Habersham, Ellison writes, “You are receiving this letter because your address was found to have been placed in the wrong House District due to a past voting precinct redistricting issue.”
The voter in this case was informed, “You have been moved to House District 10 from House District 28.”
The letter, dated June 15, was mailed following complaints lodged against the Habersham County Elections Office by State Rep. Dan Gasaway (R-Homer). Gasaway filed a lawsuit on June 7 contesting the results of the primary.
Gasaway lost the House District 28 Republican primary to challenger Chris Erwin by 67 votes. The lawsuit claims there were at least that many illegal votes cast.
In the lawsuit, Gasaway claims that Habersham County election officials breached their duty “by assigning voters in the Election to the wrong State House districts, causing illegal votes to be cast and disenfranchising voters.”
The three-term incumbent is asking a Fulton County judge to order a new election.
The State Election Board is conducting its own investigation into Habersham’s House districting issue.
Officials express concern
Habersham County Commissioner Natalie Crawford says commissioners were notified when the county’s investigation revealed that some voters were assigned to the wrong districts.
“I think it’s unfortunate,” she says, “and, yes, it’s a concern with regard to the fact that it wasn’t caught before an election took place. However, as soon as it was brought to our attention it was fixed.”
Exactly how county election officials discovered the error is unclear. It’s also unclear precisely how many voters were impacted and how many election cycles were affected.
Now Habersham reached out to Ellison and Habersham County Manager Phil Sutton for comment. Ellison offered no comment on the matter. In an email dated June 25, Sutton responded saying, “…they cannot respond to (a) question related to pending or ongoing litigation.”
State Rep. Terry Rogers says county officials did not notify him of their findings. He found out secondhand.
“It’s of great concern how we got here in the first place,” Rogers tells Now Habersham. “The letter confirms Dan’s position and reaffirms the State Election Board’s investigation (into the primary).”
Rogers says he’s reached out to the Secretary of State’s Office.
“I’m lending my support to this investigation and asking them to be as thorough as possible to make sure voters are not disenfranchised and that this never happens again,” he says.
Crawford says county commissioners, too, want to ensure this never happens again. She says they’ll be “debriefing” to determine how it occurred.
“I’m confident it was not deliberate,” she says. “It was errant. It was an honest mistake that was fixed as soon as it was discovered.”
