Georgia’s Republican Leadership Faces Election Reform Chaos: SB303, HB397, and Power Shifts

Georgia’s all-Repub­li­can lead­er­ship, con­trol­ling both leg­isla­tive and exec­u­tive branch­es, is under pres­sure to enact elec­tion reforms like paper bal­lots, one-day vot­ing, and vot­er ID—potentially at Don­ald Trump’s urg­ing. Yet, SB303’s tab­u­la­tor debate and HB397’s push to remove State Elec­tion Board mem­bers, includ­ing past tar­get­ing of Dr. Jan John­ston, reveal inter­nal GOP rifts. Patri­ots fight­ing for elec­tion integri­ty see their efforts under­mined as Repub­li­can bills adopt Demo­c­rat-friend­ly lan­guage, grant­i­ng House Speak­er Jon Burns and Lt. Gov. Burt Jones pow­er to oust board mem­bers dur­ing recess­es. Mean­while, changes strip­ping pro­bate judges from elec­tion over­sight and shift­ing nom­i­na­tion pow­er from coun­ty par­ties could threat­en bal­lot access and GOP con­trol. Could this sig­nal a Repub­li­can down­fall in Geor­gia? Dive into the lat­est elec­tion law bat­tles shak­ing the state.

• The top lead­er­ship in Geor­gia are all repub­li­can. The leg­isla­tive and exec­u­tive branch­es are repub­li­can and could put in the leg­is­la­tion at the request by Don­ald Trump, paper bal­lots, one day vot­ing, vot­er ID, and 
• There is dis­cus­sion with SB303 adding tab­u­la­tors, which is no, on the tab­u­la­tors. Every year they sneak some­thing into the bills. HB397 awaits actions in the Sen­ate that cre­ates a process to remove mem­bers from the State Elec­tion Board. But repub­li­cans might alter it to include ideas that did not ser­vice last week’s dead­lines for bills to clear at least one leg­isla­tive cham­ber such as remov­ing GA from ERIC. but this is going on the bill that will remove the State elec­tion board mem­bers. Last year they want­ed a process to remove Dr. Jan John­ston, the repub­li­can appoint­ed mem­ber, from the State Elec­tion Board. Who is bat­tling this bill? The patri­ots tried to safe­guard the elec­tion for every­one, by try­ing to pass rules. Remem­ber Dr. Jan John­ston tried to get the Joe Rossi inves­ti­ga­tion going. When you get a Dr. Jan John­ston that wants to go against the grain and buck against the board you have to have a mech­a­nism to remove them. Repub­li­cans are get­ting ready to lose statewide all the way up to the state board of elec­tion. This is the door open­ing for remov­ing repub­li­cans. Law­mak­ers have to stop you. Remem­ber the patri­ots that spent hours to write and tes­ti­fy for the rules. The repub­li­cans removed their lan­guage to replace it with demo­c­rat lan­guage. Giv­ing House Speak­er Jon Burns and Lt. Gov­er­nor Burt Jones the abil­i­ty to remove state elec­tion board mem­bers when the gen­er­al assem­bly is out of ses­sion, could this be the lan­guage that a demo­c­rat put in.  
• Last year they changed the law and took pro­bate judges out of super­vi­sion of the elec­tions. The law allowed the coun­ties to write the elec­tion super­vi­so­ry board leg­is­la­tion. The law is chang­ing the for­ma­tion of the elec­tion boards, sub­vert­ing the par­ties nom­i­na­tions. Coun­ty par­ties exist for bal­lot access. When you run for office you have to go to the par­ty of the coun­ty and pay the fee to have access to the bal­lot under the par­ty. In most par­ties this is where the coun­ties get the major­i­ty of their mon­ey. 
• Now you can’t tell one they can do some­thing, and then tell anoth­er they can’t. Next thing you know the coun­ties will not be oblig­at­ed to take the par­ty nom­i­nees, and it will come to the state.