Georgia Secretary Of State Wants Two Fulton County Election Officials Fired
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is calling for the dismissal of two Fulton County election officials.
This comes after nearly 200 ballots were earlier revealed to have been double-counted in the November 2020 election before a recount was made in the state.
“Fulton County’s continued failures have gone on long enough with no accountability. [Fulton County election director] Rick Barron and Ralph Jones, Fulton’s registration chief, must be fired and removed from Fulton’s elections leadership immediately,” Raffensperger tweeted on Thursday.
“Fulton’s voters and the people of Georgia deserve better,” he added.
Fulton County’s continued failures have gone on long enough with no accountability. Rick Barron and Ralph Jones, Fulton’s registration chief, must be fired and removed from Fulton’s elections leadership immediately. Fulton’s voters and the people of Georgia deserve better.
— GA Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (@GaSecofState) July 15, 2021
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution noted that there is “no indication” that the double counted ballots affected the eventual outcome of the elections in the state last year between former President Donald Trump and now-President Joe Biden after three statewide recounts.
However, critics noted that the revelation of double-counted ballots is just another example of a string of election controversies hounding Fulton County which dates back years.
Last year, the state and county agreed to have an independent observer monitor over Fulton County’s election procedures in an effort to reign in the county’s recurring election problems.
The observer’s report, which was released publicly last month, revealed a slew of issues ranging from miscommunication to workers failing to properly handle ballots.
Fulton County — which includes downtown Atlanta — is cited as a “very liberal” part of Georgia, voting 72.6% Democrat during the 2020 election.
Raffensperger has been increasingly critical with Fulton County’s handling of the 2020 election. Meanwhile, as Raffensperger played up his defense of pushing election integrity in Georgia’s election, Fulton County Board of Commissioners Chair Rob Pitts, a Democrat, has accused the Republican secretary of state of “ targeting” Fulton to drump up the narrative of widespread voting fraud in last year’s November elections.
“His ultimate goal is based on the provisions of Senate Bill 202, he would like to take over the elections in Fulton County, That is not going to happen, period,” Pitts said shortly after Raffensperger called for the dismissal of both Barron and Jones amid the findings tied to the 200 double-counted ballots.
“I think all of this is an effort to cast doubt for the 2022 and 2024 elections. That’s the only thing that could be over because the past elections are over, votes have been counted, elections have been certified,” Pitts added.
Fulton County wanted Barron removed
This is not the first time that Barron faced calls for his dismissal. In February, the Fulton County’s election board attempted to remove Barron from his position — but the vote of the election board was overruled by the county Board of Commissioners — halting Barron’s removal.
During the recounts in December, Raffensperger has squarely placed the blame on Fulton County for doubts about Georgia’s election results, accusing the county of mishandling the election and breaching Secretary of State’s office rules.
“The real issue is that a Fulton County employee made several compounding errors,” Raffensperger said earlier. “Instead of following the procedures that my office and the vendor laid out, Fulton County once again cut corners.”
“Us and our office, and I think the rest of the state, is getting a little tired of always having to wait on Fulton County and always having to put up with their dysfunction,” he added.
Pitts that time defended Fulton’s handling of the 2020 election despite the errors found — blasting critics of just sourgraping over the election results.
In June, the Georgia Republican Party censured Raffensperger on Saturday for “dereliction of his constitutional duty” amid fraud concerns related to the 2020 election where former President Trump — lost to Biden — in the historically red state.
Georgia GOP censures Raffensperger
Georgia Republicans said Raffensperger “neglected” his duties by allowing changes in the state’s absentee voting procedures “outside the Constitutionally prescribed format set forth in Georgia law; and for undermining the security of our elections by allowing mass mailings of absentee applications by his office and third parties which created opportunities for fraud and overwhelmed election offices.”
Georgia Republicans also charged the Secretary of State for “rendering accurate signature matching nearly impossible; and allowing ballot drop boxes without proper chain of custody; and ignoring sworn affidavits and evidence of voter fraud.”
Georgia has earlier passed an election integrity law that introduced amendments to the state’s election procedures — meant to increase the security and address issues that were raised during the tight 2020 election.
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