Georgia Supreme Court to hear Fulton County Elections Board squabble
By Kim Jarrett | The Center Square
(The Center Square) – The Georgia Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a case involving the appointment of two Republicans to the Fulton County Elections Board.
State law requires two appointments to the election board from each political party. The Republican Party nominated two candidates to the five-member board in 2025. One of the nominees, Julie Adams, was already on the board. The second was Jason Frazier, who is now employed with the State Board of Elections.
The Fulton County Commission refused to seat them.
“According to the transcript of the May 21 meeting, some commissioners declined to appoint Adams because of her refusal to certify the 2024 election results as well as her involvement in lawsuits challenging those results,” according to a document from the Georgia Court of Appeals. “Some commissioners also declined to appoint Frazier because of his alleged involvement in filing registration challenges to Fulton County voters.”
A Fulton County Superior Court judge found the commission in contempt, but the Georgia Court of Appeals overturned the decision in March.
The Georgia Supreme Court will hear arguments in October over two questions, according to information released by the court on Tuesday.
The first is whether the General Assembly has the authority to delegate to private parties, such as political parties, the authority to appoint board members to local and state government boards.
If the court decides that the General Assembly does not have the authority, it will consider whether the statute requiring a governmental authority to automatically appoint members from private parties to government boards is constitutionally permissible.
The Fulton County Election Board has four members, according to its website. Adams, the Republican nominee, and Teresa Crawford and Douglass Shelby, both Democratic appointees, make up the board. The fifth member is appointed by the Fulton County Commission and serves as chairman. Sherri Allen is the current chairwoman.