The partisan fight over elections oversight came to majority-Republican Cherokee County Tuesday night where Democrats and Republicans attended in droves to address the Board of Commissioners before it made two key appointments to the Board of Elections.
Republicans again urged the commissioners to use their appointments to give the GOP an edge on the traditionally bipartisan Board of Elections, but commissioners did not do so. However, they also did not reappoint the Democratic board member nominated by the party.
Instead, they chose someone with whom Democrats are unfamiliar, but with whom Republicans seemed somewhat satisfied: Scott Little.
Four members of the Cherokee elections board are appointed by the Board of Commissioners. Historically, two appointments have come from each party. The elections board chair is a fifth member who is elected by the four appointed board members.
Commission Chairman Harry Johnston assured the board that Little is a Democrat, even if the party is unfamiliar with him.
“He told me all his friends know he’s a Democrat, and he’s voting for Joe Biden,” Johnston said. “If you’re willing to say in Cherokee County you’re voting for Joe Biden, I believe you’re a Democrat.”
Over email, Johnston told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that commissioners all interviewed Little and found him to be a “legitimate moderate-leaning Democrat.”
“We knew Scott Little’s appointment wouldn’t fully satisfy either the Democrats or Republicans,” he added. “We selected him in the interest of unity.”
Credit: Jenni Girtman
Credit: Jenni Girtman
Sheree Giardino, the Democratic elections board member whose term will not be renewed, said the commission misled attendees into thinking they were preserving a bipartisan board while they actually appointed an individual who has voted Republican in the past — a move she called “an absolute fraud on the voters.”
“The reason that we fight so hard for balance on these boards is, there’s a real potential for a certification fight,” Giardino said. “We saw what happened in Fulton County.”
Last month in Fulton, Republican Board of Elections member Julie Adams refused to certify the results of the primary election. She also filed a lawsuit against her board, asking a judge to determine that elections board members are not required to certify results.
Little told the AJC Wednesday morning that he is a Democrat and has voted such a majority of the time.
“I don’t have another way of proving that, but I can say with certainty, they did not select someone that’s a Republican in disguise,” he said.
Little pulled a Republican ballot in an August 2020 primary, the only primary election records show he participated in. He last voted in the December 2022 U.S. Senate runoff election.
Elections officials have become controversial figures in recent years as some far-right Republicans, fueled by election conspiracies originating with former President Donald Trump’s loss in 2020, refuse to certify elections and bring forth mass voter challenges that Democrats fear could remove eligible voters from the rolls.
During public comment, several Republicans cited those debunked election conspiracies while urging the commissioners to create a GOP majority on the elections board.
“The problem lies with the machines,” said Lisa Jaqua, a member of the Cherokee County GOP. “Your vote is not counting.”
“We wanted to find the truth about our votes and if they actually counted here in Cherokee County,” said Kelly Sirois. “We just want to keep (Cherokee County) red.”
Democrats said a partisan board could pave the way for those perpetuating far-right election conspiracies to put more pressure on elections officials.
Credit: Jenni Girtman
Credit: Jenni Girtman
“These folks continue to right out call it, without any equivocation, the 2020 election as ‘stolen,’ with no regard to what the court rulings have said, no regard to the amount of data that shows otherwise,” said Barbara Kidder.
Commissioners Richard Weatherby and Steve West moved that the board appoint two Republicans, but the other three commissioners voted against it. Then they voted unanimously to reappoint the Republican nominee Larry Hand and to appoint Little to the elections board.
Credit: Jenni Girtman
Credit: Jenni Girtman
Credit: Jenni Girtman
Credit: Jenni Girtman
Cherokee County GOP Chairman C.V. Dinsmore said after the meeting that the all-Republican commission failed to serve those who elected them into power: Republican voters.
“They should serve their constituency,” Dinsmore said. “And by doing what they did, it’s not fair, and it’s not serving the constituency.”
Little, the new elections board appointee, said he plans to be “as fair and balanced as possible, and to make sure that there’s not polarity within the board.”
“In today’s climate, I feel like, no matter if it’s on the local or the national scale, there’s a lot of divisiveness,” he said. “I would hopefully try to curtail some of that.”
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