The ongoing BOC/BRE saga reached a new level of contempt during the August 20th Fulton County Board of Commissioners meeting.

The two Republican members of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners (BOC) have consistently voted to appoint both Republican nominees, Jason Frazier and Julie Adams, to the Board of Registrations and Elections (BRE), while the five Democratic members have consistently voted against these appointments, in spite of multiple court rulings compelling the BOC to appoint these nominees.

Both sides claim to be acting to defend election integrity, which ought to be a non-partisan concern, so why are the Democratic commissioners so adamantly against appointing the Republican nominees?

What is Election Integrity?

First, let’s define election integrity.  Election integrity means that everyone who is eligible to vote gets the easy opportunity to vote in every election for which they are eligible, exactly once, and no other votes are counted, in such a manner that is fully transparent to all the voters, and anyone who attempts to interfere is held fully accountable.  Clearly, this ought to be a nonpartisan issue, so what is really going on here?

As the last item on the agenda of the August 20th BOC meeting, Commissioner Bridget Thorne summed up the situation that has been brewing for several months, as follows:  “We are doing irreparable harm by not allowing the Fulton County Republican Party (FCRP) to have proper representation on the BRE.”

Commissioner Thorne then made a motion to approve the FCRP nominations of Jason Frazier and Julie Adams, which was seconded by Republican Vice Chair Bob Ellis.

With only two democrats and both Republicans present, they had just enough commissioners to make a quorum, but very conveniently, three of the five Democratic members of the BOC just happen to be unable to attend this critical part of the meeting.  We can only wonder if this was intentional in order to avoid any further breaking of the law by these more cautious commissioners.

Speaking against the Republican nominees, Democratic Commissioner Dana Barrett says she ran for her seat in large part because “I wanted to be in a spot to defend the integrity of our elections.”  While this sounds like a noble purpose, how does denying the Republican party equal representation on the BRE defend the integrity of our elections?

The Point of the Law is Equal Representation

The truth is that such denial has the opposite effect.  The whole point of the law is to provide both major parties with equal representation on the BRE so that each can provide a check on potential abuses by the other.

Attacking the personal character of the Republican nominees is merely a tactic to distract from a clear agenda to ensure that the Democratic members of the BRE have no meaningful opposition from the Republican Party in overseeing our elections.

While she states “I respect the rule of law,” clearly when it comes to our elections, she has no respect for the intent or the letter of the law¹.

Next, speaking against the Republican nominees, Democratic Commissioner Mo Ivory declares “I clearly believe in the rule of law” just before she voted NO to giving the Republican Party equal representation on the BRE as required by law.  She further states “My vote today is not even about partisanship at all.”  Really? A democrat denying equal representation on the BRE to both republican nominees is not partisan?  Quite the contrary, this is the very definition of partisan behavior.

Opinion VS Law

At the end of her high and mighty speech, Commissioner Ivory states “I stand firm in my belief that Fulton county deserves better than what has been presented to us.”  By this one can only conclude that as a democrat, she is better qualified than the Republican Party itself to determine who should be allowed to represent the Republican Party on the BRE. This is a flagrant demonstration of disrespect for the law and contempt for equal representation that is so often claimed by democrats to be the cornerstone of American democracy.

Democrats Don’t Like Republican Nominees So Deny Representation

This is hypocrisy at its finest.  Just because the Democratic Commissioners do not like the Republican nominees does NOT give them the authority to deny the Fulton County Republican Party equal representation on the BRE.  Without equal representation on the BRE there can be no confidence in our elections.

Accountability

What we need now to restore confidence to our elections, is for the courts to start fining every democratic Commissioner in Fulton county $1000 per day, and honor them with 20 days rent-free residence in our lovely Fulton county jail, as well as making them pay all legal fees in order to compel them to start following the law, to encourage them to begin to respect our elections, and to acknowledge the right of the Republican Party to have equal representation on the BRE.

Stay Tuned

The contempt hearing for FCRP v FC BOC on August 27, 2025 @ 10:00 am in Courtroom 1D (case 25CV008083) will tell us what the judge is going to do, since the Commissioners did not follow his order to appoint the Republican nominees this past Wednesday.  Stay tuned.

Reference:

1. “Board of Elections and Registration”. Code of Laws of Fulton County. https://library.municode.com/ga/fulton_county/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=PTILOCOAMLOAC_CH14EL_ARTIIBOELRE