There’s ‘grave concern’ over Macon ballot mix-ups. Officials warn it may happen again

Caption

Members of the NAACP’s Georgia and Macon-Bibb County chapters held a press conference in front of the county Board of Elections Office May 10, 2024.

Credit: Jesse Fraga

Voting rights groups are investigating the Macon-Bibb County Board of Elections for “voter irregularities’‘ after voters received ballots for the wrong districts during the May primary election, and the issue may not be resolved.

The elections board admitted it could happen again during the runoff next week. Three groups are considering legal action over the issue.

The Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Legal Defense Fund and Georgia NAACP are collecting data about the severity of the issue in case their attorneys decide to file legal action against the Board of Elections, which could pause or challenge certain election actions.

Gerald Griggs, president of Georgia’s NAACP, and Gwenette Westbrooks, vice president of the group’s local chapter, held a press conference to address “grave concerns” Monday in front of the county elections office at Macon Mall.

“We don’t want any funny business with this election. We want people to be able to exercise their right without erroneous districts, erroneous ballots or anything like that, and our lawyers are always on standby,” Griggs said at the news conference.

It was unclear how many voters received or submitted ballots for incorrect districts in the May election, when the Macon-Bibb County Board of Elections acknowledged the issue during early voting.

The Georgia NAACP said the election “disenfranchised voters and their right to choose was taken away from them,” according to a press release.

If the organization collects enough data to support their claim that the elections board is at fault for disenfranchising voters, attorneys with the NAACP could file for an emergency injunction or temporary protective order — a court order that pauses certain election actions before the board certifies the runoff results, Griggs said.

How could legal action affect Macon, Ga elections?

They have not asked for an injunction yet, but with eight days until the runoff, Griggs acknowledged it is still possible.

“The runoff positions have not been certified, because we’re in the middle of runoffs. So we would be filing an injunction to stay the certification,” Griggs told The Telegraph.

Alternatively, if the group does not file for an injunction before results are certified, they could file a lawsuit against the elections board to challenge the results.

Westbrooks noticed Sunday her own runoff sample ballot listed candidates that did not belong to her voting district or party.

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Gwenette Westbrooks, vice president of NAACP’s Macon-Bibb County chapter, said her 2024 general primary runoff sample ballot listed Republican candidates, even though she is not a Republican.

Credit: Provided by Gwenette Westbrooks

Republican candidates Chuck Hand and A. Wayne Johnson, running for the U.S. House of Representatives District 2, were shown on her sample ballot, even though she is not registered as a Republican. Sample ballots reflect what a voter’s actual ballot will look like.

“Those are the issues that we’re still dealing with that they told us they were going to have corrected,” Westbrooks told The Telegraph.

Members of the NAACP will be posted about 150 feet from early voting precincts to offer sample ballots, allowing residents to ensure they’re getting the correct voting options when they get to the polls on June 18.

Macon's cyber attack still causing problems?

During a meeting to certify last month’s primary results on May 24, the board heard public comments on the ballot discrepancies and accessibility issues at the polls. The board admitted some voters received the wrong ballots, but said officials were working toward a solution.

“This is a problem that has recurred, it is not a one off,” Thomas Ellington, Democrat appointee on the board, said at the certification meeting. “Now we’ve got a potential solution coming.”

Thomas Gillon, Macon-Bibb elections supervisor, initially blamed the issue on recent redistricting of the county in December. However, about 17 days after the meeting, he said the district mix-up was related to the county’s recent cyber attack.

“We’re aware of where the problems are. We would have gotten it almost all fixed as far as the races for this one, if not for the cyber issue,” Gillon told The Telegraph after the NAACP’s press conference. “That has severely limited our access to the (secretary of) state system, where that sort of thing gets fixed. If we had more access, it would be child’s play.”

The secretary of state’s website uses a separate online network from Macon-Bibb, but the county had trouble syncing some data with the state site, Gillon said.

“The county’s defense was to shut down Bibb County’s internet, email and so forth. When that happens, the state’s defense is to shut down our access to the state system, so it can’t spread further than just our county,” he said.

The only access the board had to the state system was through two new laptops accessible to two users, Gillon told The Telegraph.

“They gave us access (to the secretary of state’s website), as long as we had two brand new laptops and only two users,” he said. “That’s the only access we have to the state’s registration system, voter registration, absentee ballots and fixing the combo of issues.”

This was a separate issue from when the elections board took about 16 hours to tabulate May’s primary results after polls closed, delaying final results for local races. He said the delay was related to faulty memory cards.

Gillon encouraged voters to check their ballots for the correct district and party before submitting them, but the NAACP argued voters should not be responsible for this.

“They tell you you’re supposed to know what to do, but they’re allowing them to go ahead and vote for the incorrect person,” Westbrooks said.

The elections board will provide district maps at the runoff’s Election Day precincts, to show voters which races should be on their ballot according to the district in which they are registered, Gillon said.

This story comes to GPB through a reporting partnership with The Telegraph.