A new bill in the Georgia General Assembly would provide the State Election Board with greater powers to suspend, appoint, and replace superintendents who oversee elections at the city or county level.
The Georgia General Assembly’s website identifies State Rep. Barry Fleming (R-Harlem) as the sole sponsor.
The language of the bill defines a superintendent as the judge of a probate court or a county board of elections. That definition also includes a county board of elections and registration, a joint city-county board of elections, or a joint city-county board of elections and registration.
“The State Election Board may suspend county or municipal superintendents and appoint an individual to serve as the temporary superintendent in a jurisdiction,” according to Fleming’s proposal.
Under Fleming’s bill, members of the State Election Board may suspend a county or municipal superintendent if at least three members of the board agree on two things. First, that the superintendent violated at least three board rules and regulations in the past two election cycles and not remedied them. Second, that the superintendent has, for at least two elections within a two-year period, shown nonfeasance, malfeasance, or gross negligence administering elections.
This bill is one among many election integrity bills in this year’s session of the Georgia General Assembly.
As The Georgia Star News reported this week, a group of activists who were angry over a voter integrity bill disturbed the peace at the state capitol. Law enforcement officials did not arrest them. As The Star News reported Wednesday, Georgia’s Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed this bill Monday, which they said will make elections more secure, specifically in the way of absentee voting. The legislation, if enacted into law, would also strip the Secretary of State from his role chairing the State Elections Board.
Also as reported, Georgia State Rep. Charlice Byrd (R-Woodstock) has defended voter integrity legislation she filed that would require non-U.S. citizens to have “BEARER NOT A U.S. CITIZEN — NOT VOTER ID” printed on their driver’s licenses, permits.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Poll Worker” by Phil Roeder. CC BY 2.0.
