Fulton County won’t turn over key documents related to scores of voter complaints about last year’s elections, and Secretary of State Brian Kemp says he’s so frustrated that he’s taken the rare step of subpoenaing documents from the county’s elections office.
Kemp says he wants to hold the county accountable and force changes before this year’s mayoral elections, including the Atlanta mayor’s race, but Fulton isn’t cooperating.
As chairman of the State Election Board, Kemp is demanding records showing whether 19 people ever got the absentee ballots they requested and whether the county ever notified voters who were forced to use paper ballots if their votes got counted. Other requests involve the breakdown that caused some registered voters not to show up in precincts’ computer records.
Fulton’s elections managers say they’re not stonewalling Kemp but they can’t produce the documents fast enough for his timeline. David Walbert, an attorney for the Registration and Elections Board, said the state has made multiple requests that continuously evolve and broaden.
Many records have already been turned over. The problem, Walbert said, is that Kemp scheduled a hearing before finishing the investigation.
“He has decided to put this on the fast track, because it’s politically advantageous to him,” the attorney said. “It’s unfortunate, because the job of government shouldn’t be pre-judgment and rushing to judgment, as the Secretary of State has done.”
The Secretary of State’s Office received 111 complaints about how Fulton managed the Nov. 6 presidential election, and Kemp has fast-tracked his office’s investigations in order to have the county in front of the State Election Board Jan. 31. Kemp has said that, because of Fulton’s chronic problems, he plans to seek legal authority from the state Legislature to intervene in a county’s botched elections process.
Kemp’s subpoenas order interim Elections Director Sharon Mitchell, Elections Chief Dwight Brower, Registration Manager Ralph Jones and elections investigator Pamela Coleman to appear at the hearing. The board will decide whether to dismiss claims, impose sanctions or send cases to the state Attorney General’s Office for prosecution and possible fines.
Two elections board members have recently quit, including the county’s top elections official. Board Chairman Roderick Edmond resigned Friday, with no explanation, and Republican Party appointee William Riley resigned Dec. 26, citing his busy schedule.
Neither of them was subpoenaed, but Kemp said he signed one for former Elections Director Sam Westmoreland, who his investigators can’t locate. Westmoreland resigned in September while he was jailed for failing to follow sentencing terms from two prescription drug-related DUI convictions.
Seven subpoenas issued Monday, obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, reveal the state is also looking into the department’s failed effort last year to purge voters from the rolls who are believed to be registered at addresses in public housing that has been demolished, as well as the hundreds of voters placed in the wrong state Senate and House district in last year’s primary election.
The complaints from November involve allegations that mismanagement caused thousands of voters to cast paper ballots unnecessarily, creating ballot shortages and long lines that could have persuaded many voters to give up and leave before they cast their ballots.
It was the latest in a string of failures during the past four years, including the mishandling of absentee ballots in 2008 and a $120,000 fine for tossing voter records into a trash bin in 2009.
“This is such an important investigation that we’re working on, that I really didn’t feel like we’re getting the information we need in a timely manner,” Kemp said. “It’s just more frustration with Fulton County. I’m sure they’ll have some good excuses as to why they couldn’t do it.”
Mitchell, in a written statement, said her office was cooperating with Kemp’s inspectors even while working on the special election last week to replace former state Sen. Chip Rogers.
Her department “has provided or is working to provide every document requested that is in the possession of our staff. Their inspectors have been welcomed in our offices and have been on site as recently as yesterday, Monday,” Mitchell said.
The state is also demanding a report by hired consultant Gary Smith, which the elections office has refused to turn over, citing attorney-client privilege. The county has refused to release it to the AJC and Commissioner Liz Hausmann, as well.
Hausmann said she doesn’t think Kemp is overreacting for political gain, because she’s just as frustrated about documents being withheld.
“It seems to me like they’re dragging it out so they don’t have it in time for the hearing, and I question why,” she said. “The State Election Board is not the enemy, and I find it incredulous that we’re not cooperating.”
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