Appeals court reverses ruling over Fulton election board appointments

Appeals court reverses ruling over Fulton election board appointments

The Georgia Court of Appeals has reversed a lower court's decision that held Fulton County commissioners in contempt for refusing to seat two Republican election board nominees.

ATLANTA - The Georgia Court of Appeals has reversed a lower court’s ruling that found the Fulton County Board of Commissioners in contempt. The original dispute centered on the commission's refusal to appoint two Republican nominees to the Fulton County Board of Elections.

What we know:

With this new ruling, the court also reversed a $10,000-a-day fine that had been imposed on the commission for failing to seat Jason Frazier and Julie Adams. Both had been nominated by the Fulton County Republican Party to serve on the elections board.

Those fines began accruing in August after a judge ruled that commissioners were required to appoint the specific members nominated by the party. However, the appeals court disagreed, stating that is not the case. Instead, the court found that commissioners have the power to veto appointments, at which point the party would need to nominate different individuals for consideration.

"Because the Commissioners were acting within their own lawful and discretionary authority when they declined to seat the BRE nominees at issue, we reverse the trial court’s grant of a writ of mandamus as an abuse of that court’s discretion," the ruling stated.

What they're saying:

Fulton County Board of Commission Chairman Robb Pitts said the ruling vindicates the members. 

"It makes it crystal clear that we as commissioners have the right, the legal right to make decisions that we believe are in the best interests for all of our constituents," Pitts said. "Nothing against the two individuals that were in question but uh, their record of being anti from what we were attempting to do here in Fulton County from the point of view of running open and fair transparent elections, were counter to that. We collectively believe that those two weren’t the best two to serve on that board."

The backstory:

Democratic board members have previously expressed opposition to seating Frazier and Adams. Adams is currently on the board but was up for reappointment. Opponents have cited accusations surrounding the 2020 election and the legitimacy of the outcome in Fulton County as the reason for their stance.

The other side:

Josh McKoon, chairman of the Georgia Republican Party, sent FOX 5 a statement calling the decision "outrageous."

"Predictable but outrageous. The Georgia Court of Appeals just handed Fulton County Democrats a veto pen over Republican nominations to the Board of Elections. ‘Shall appoint from nominations made by the party’ apparently now means ‘unless we don’t like them.’ Julie Adams and Jason Frazier — rejected so the machine can keep operating without real oversight in Georgia’s most scrutinized county. This isn’t discretion; it’s a partisan protection racket. The fight for fair elections isn’t over."

The party can appeal the decision to the Georgia Supreme Court. 

Local perspective:

The Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections consists of five members: a chair, two Democratic nominees, and two Republican nominees.