Members present: Myesha Good—Chair, David Fedack, Robert Proctor, Daniel Zimmerman, Maurice Hurry
Director: Milton Kidd
Attorney for County—David Cole
Milton Kidd told the board a challenge to 2,535 voters had been made by Cesar Gonzalez in an email. After contacting Gonzalez, a follow-up email and a thumb drive was sent. The follow-up was from Cindy Morley. She said the National Change of Address list showed 2,535 voters had moved and their addresses were different from their voter registration addresses, and the information was on the jump drive.
Kidd said they had also received correspondence from legal sources stating the use of NCOA information for challenging voters was not well founded because the database is full of errors and it did not show probable cause. They said federal law and Georgia case law prohibited the use of such a board basis for challenges.
Kidd said he and his office is recommending the challenge be denied because it is not consistent with state laws for updating voter rolls. He said the code section cited by the challengers is only used on an individual basis. He summarized the process used by the Secretary of State’s Office to update voter rolls.
Fedack moved to deny the complaint because there was no probable cause. Hurry seconded it.
Zimmerman asked why the NCOA is considered unreliable. Kidd stated the Sec of State uses it and voter history to determine if voters should be removed. This information is sent to local boards. It is not used without also checking voting history.
Zimmerman asked if any voter can challenge any other voter. Kidd responded they can, but the voter challenged has an opportunity to respond in a hearing. There were too many voters on the list for the board to hear the challenges, if the board decided to accept them.
Zimmerman asked if the staff have checked any of the contested voters on the list. Kidd said they had, and the they found the voters they checked had filed change of address information and updated their registration profiles. In those they checked, everything was correct.
Zimmerman asked if they could allow the challenged voters to vote and determine their status afterwards. Kidd said it would be a logistical nightmare because individual hearings would be required. He repeated the review was not done in the proper timeframe, and it appeared to be a partisan action.
Proctor asked if they could go into executive session. Fedack made the motion and they voted unanimously to go into executive session. It appeared they wanted to talk to the attorney who was not on the call at that point. They were in executive session for about fifteen minutes.
When they came back, Fedack repeated his motion and Hurry seconded it. They voted 3-2 to deny the complaint.
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These meetings are open to the public by Georgia law. Georgia Open Meetings Act.
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