Senate panel to consider bill that hands Georgia lawmakers more say over State Election Board

Caption

Conservative Georgia State Election Board member Janelle King (second from left), board Executive Director Mike Coan (second from right)

Credit: Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder

A last-minute House election bill that advanced on Crossover Day last week would give new authority to the House speaker and Senate president to remove State Election Board members during the legislative offseason.

If the Legislature approves the current version of House Bill 397, it would give the two chamber leaders powers to remove members from a board that was at the forefront of controversial election rulemaking in 2024.

However, the architect behind the proposal for removing Georgia election board members, Atlanta Democratic Rep. Saira Draper, said she’s not optimistic that the updated clause will remain in the final election bill expected to be crafted before the session ends April 4.

On Feb. 18, Draper filed House Bill 501, which clarified state law by giving the House and Senate chamber leaders the same post-session authority to remove State Election Board members as they have to fill vacancies on the board.

On Thursday, the House voted 159-13 in favor of a substitute passed out of the House Rules Committee that no longer included a provision that would give municipal election officials the choice to opt-out of advance voting for municipal elections on Saturdays.

Draper said she believes the Republicans passed a HB 397 substitute that removed controversial Saturday voting language because the GOP leaders did not want to delay passing an election bill on the Crossover Day deadline for legislation to advance out of one chamber.

Instead, they presented a measure that only included her proposal clarifying state law by giving House and Senate leaders the same ability to remove election board members as they currently have to appoint members while not in session. The provision would allow the House and Senate leaders to remove Georgia election officials that were selected by their respective chambers to fill a vacancy.

“I don’t want to say I know this is going to happen, but my concern is (HB 397) is going to be used as a vehicle now to move whatever kind of election legislation they want to see,” Draper said.

Draper said a number of her Democratic colleagues are in favor of finding other ways to reduce local election costs without cutting off access to Saturday voting.

“Democrats are very sympathetic to the idea that our election offices are struggling and have had over the years, a large number of costs thrust upon them,” she said.

Covington Republican Rep. Tim Fleming’s HB 397 is assigned to the Senate Ethics Committee, which has debated and passed key election bills over the past couple of years, including measures that would ban election officials from adopting an instant runoff system, a 2024 bill replacing the QR code that tabulates votes on paper ballots, and the controversial sweeping 2021 election law overhaul, Senate Bill 202.

On Thursday evening as the clock ran out to advance bills on Crossover Day, Governmental Affairs Chairman Victor Anderson informed the House Rules Committee members about the last-minute changes to legislation that was intended to address critical procedural issues prior to the 2026 election.

Anderson, a Cornelia Republican, said stripping down the bill was necessary to reach a consensus working with the Senate Ethics Committee to pass new election procedures this year so as not to “put us in bind next year.”

Natalie Crawford, executive director and founder of Georgia First, a nonprofit think tank and policy advocacy group, said her organization supports the election board removal procedure and the earlier provision giving municipal election officials the choice to opt out of a Saturday voting day.

The former Republican Habersham County Commissioner said her organization will continue monitoring proposals that the ethics committee could consider, including potentially new rules on the hand delivery on absentee ballots on and poll watcher access.

“We are great with the language as it is now. Obviously, we will be looking to see if there’s any language that would potentially impede voting access,” Crawford said. “Georgia First is pretty bullish that we do very well in Georgia with our elections.

“Now is probably a good time to kind of hold off on more legislative tinkering,” Crawford said. “Let’s get a good feel for what we have in place and allow confidence to be restored with voters without making any additional unnecessary changes

Voting rights groups and lawmakers will also be watching to see if the final version of House Bill 397 expands the Senate president and House speaker’s authority to remove State Election Board appointees while the Legislature is not in session.

Last year, House Speaker Jon Burns and Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who are both Republicans, appointed two conservative election board members ahead of the November election. In January, the Senate approved Jones’ choice to have former state Sen. Rick Jeffares serve on the board. Following the session, Burns’ appointed former Georgia Republican Party deputy director Janelle King to the election board that investigates county election administration.

The reshaped election board continued a trend of holding marathon board meetings often dominated by pro-Donald Trump activists lodging accusations of voting fraud and other voting irregularities stemming from false claims about widespread fraud costing Trump the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. The board also faced lawsuits contending the three conservative members’ rulemaking leading up to the Nov. 5 election was illegally usurping legislative authority.

This story comes to GPB through a reporting partnership with Georgia Recorder.