Georgia's State Election Board and Fulton County officials intensified their battle with the board voting Tuesday to subpoena county election records from the 2020 race after the county filed a lawsuit to stop the board from forcing it to accept its election monitors.
Fulton County's lawsuit is seeking an injunction against the state board and its Republican majority for pushing it to accept Election Day monitors that include skeptics who objected to the 2020 results reports The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Tuesday.
Fulton County has a team in place to monitor the November election after an agreement was reached with the state board and the secretary of state's office, but the Republicans on the state board want to add their own monitors to oversee the operations.
The county board sued the state Monday on claims that the state board lacks legal authority to appoint the monitors, leading the state board to respond with its demand for the county records. The state board also subpoenaed Fulton County's board to come to an upcoming meeting.
In recent months, the state board's GOP majority has approved several new rules to govern this year's election, prompting lawsuits claiming that the board is exceeding its legal authority.
Fulton County's election board has been under scrutiny in the years following the 2020 election, with a state investigation finding that the county likely scanned more than 3,000 voters' ballots twice while recounting the 2020 numbers.
However, election investigators were not able to confirm that the ballots that were scanned twice were counted twice. Still, the state board in May reprimanded the Fulton County board and required that it hire monitors for the Nov. 5 election.
Fulton County hired a team of monitors in July. They are led by Ryan Germany, former general counsel for the secretary of state’s office, which approved the team.
However, the state board added two new members in recent months, with some of the Republicans on the board saying they want to appoint their own monitors for the county.
Fulton County's lawsuit against the state board claims that Chair John Fervier and member Janice Johnston discussed monitors with Sherri Allen, who chairs the Fulton board.
According to the suit, Johnston allegedly threatened that to "disavow" Fulton County if it didn't accept the state-suggested monitors.
She also proposed through an email that eight monitors be added to the county team, including former U.S. Rep. Frank Ryan, who objected to counting Pennsylvania’s electoral votes for Joe Biden on Jan. 6, 2021.
Heather Honey, a subcontractor in the Cyber Ninjas audit in Maricopa County, Arizona's 20202 presidential election results, was also suggested as a Fulton County monitor.
The county insists that the state board does not have authority to force the county to accept its monitors, and is seeking an injunction to stop its effort.
Johnston and state board member Janelle King, meanwhile, said Tuesday that Fulton County had not appointed a team that was acceptable to the board.
"At some point, we have to stop allowing them to find workarounds to an agreement that was put in place because of errors that they made," she said.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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