Fulton County Commission Chair Robb Pitts plans to nominate Sandy Springs attorney Sherri Allen to chair the county Board of Registration & Elections.
Allen would become the board’s third chair this year, if her nomination is approved Monday during a special meeting of the county commission. Neither Allen nor Pitts responded to requests for comment, but other county commissioners confirmed Pitts’ intention to nominate her.
The rapid turnover on Fulton’s election board comes as the county’s electoral system is under close scrutiny by the state and others. Following long-running disputes over Fulton County results and election management from 2020 and 2022, Georgia is likely to be a pivotal swing state in the 2024 presidential election as well.
Last year the Republican Party sued Fulton County after county commissioners twice rejected Jason Frazier for an open seat on the election board. Frazier has challenged nearly 10,000 voter registrations over the past few years. Republicans sued the county, dropping their attempt to seat Frazier only when commissioners approved another Republican nominee, Julie Adams, in February.
Allen is the founder and managing partner of Allen Law LLC. She serves as legal assistance manager for the Warrior Alliance, a nonprofit serving veterans. According to that group’s website, Allen is a trial lawyer specializing in personal injury and veterans’ law. She belongs to multiple professional legal organizations, chairs the Sandy Springs Board of Appeals and is on the board of Solidarity Sandy Springs food pantry, according to the Warrior Alliance page.
The Solidarity Sandy Springs website says Allen holds a bachelor’s degree and doctorate in jurisprudence from Indiana University, and donates time to the Georgia Legal Services program.
State records show Allen has voted regularly since at least 2012. She voted in Democratic primaries eight times during that period, but voted in the 2022 Republican primary. Georgia is an open primary state that allows voters of any affiliation to vote in partisan primaries.
According to the Federal Election Commission, Allen donated $400 to Obama for America in 2012; and in 2016 gave $27 to ActBlue, earmarked for the presidential campaign of Bernie Sanders. State campaign finance records show a $101 donation in 2016 to Angela Brown, superior court judge in Cobb County, a nonpartisan position.
The initial notice of Monday’s special commission meeting, issued July 17, only said there will be a hearing on “whether members of the Housing Authority of Fulton County should be removed from their positions.”
The full meeting agenda, released shortly after noon Wednesday, includes that but also says commissioners will take nominations to fill out the remaining term of departing elections board chair Cathy Woolard. It does not mention the names of any nominees.
There will be no public comment period during the special meeting, according to the agenda.
Commissioner Marvin Arrington Jr. said he knew of Pitts’ intention to nominate Allen, but noted there has been no public discussion of any nominees or any named in the special meeting agenda.
“I think that there should have been public advertisement,” Arrington said, adding he isn’t sure a nominee will get through on short notice.
Woolard sent a letter to Pitts on July 3 stating her intention to resign as of July 25.
Commissioners met July 10 but didn’t deal with the impending vacancy. Pitts said a new nominee might not be voted on until county commissioners’ next regular meeting Aug. 7.
The elections board’s most recent regular meeting was July 11. Its next meeting is set for Aug. 8.
Commissioner Dana Barrett signaled support for Allen’s nomination Thursday.
“Thankfully, our board was able to take the time needed to find the right person to chair the Board of Registration & Elections going forward,” Barrett said. “Sherri Allen has the skills, experience and commitment needed to step in and get straight to work.”
Commissioner Bob Ellis said he thinks Allen’s nomination will be publicly announced “in a similar kind of time frame” as agenda details are released about other items. He hasn’t heard of any other proposed nominees, he said.
“That board in particular needs a chair at this point in time, given the election cycle,” Ellis said.
The county Democratic and Republican parties each nominate two members to the five-member elections board, but the chair’s nomination and selection is in the hands of county commissioners.
Woolard became election board chair in September 2021. When she resigned in May 2023, Pitts nominated former Republican county commissioner Lee Morris to chair the elections board — a move that would have flipped control from Democrats to Republicans.
But that drew strong pushback from the civil rights and voting rights groups, and some other commissioners. Morris, agreeing that a Democratic-leaning county like Fulton should have a Democratic majority on its election board, withdrew from consideration. In his stead, Pitts nominated former county attorney Patrise Perkins-Hooker.
In April, after less than a year in the seat, Perkins-Hooker resigned to serve as Atlanta’s interim city attorney. The day after her announcement, Pitts said he asked Woolard to return as board chair. Woolard did so, but said she only took the interim position for the May primary and June runoff.
