House Speaker Jon Burns on Friday appointed Janelle King, a media personality and former deputy director of the Georgia Republican Party, to the State Election Board, which investigates allegations of fraud and creates election rules.
King is the co-chairwoman of the conservative political action committee Let’s Win For America Action with her husband, Kelvin King, a Republican and former candidate for the U.S. Senate.
King replaces Ed Lindsey, an attorney and lobbyist who drew criticism from some conservative voters for supporting Georgia’s law allowing no-excuse absentee voting in February. Lindsey, a Republican, resigned Friday to make way for King after serving on the board since 2022.
King said she will decide cases based on the facts and treat everyone fairly. There are four Republicans and one Democrat on the board.
“Even though I’m Republican, I don’t think having a partisan mindset will get you very far,” King said. “I am very objective. I look at things from a perspective of normalcy rather than partisanship.”
King, a panelist on “The Georgia Gang” politics TV show, said she believes there were mistakes in the 2020 presidential election, and it’s the board’s job to find the truth.
Credit: Curtis Compton/AJC
Credit: Curtis Compton/AJC
“If there is clear evidence that nothing happened, or clear evidence that something happened, that’s what I’m going to lean toward, and that’s where I was even in 2020,” King said. “I’m going to continue to lean into clear facts and evidence, and let that be the decision maker.”
State Election Board investigations have never found evidence of widespread fraud in Georgia’s 2020 election after considering cases alleging ineligible voters, dead voters and drop box ballot-stuffing. Three vote counts showed that Democrat Joe Biden defeated Republican Donald Trump.
The board voted to reprimand Fulton County last week for double-scanning more than 3,000 ballots during a recount in which Trump gained 939 net votes against Biden. Two Republican election board members wanted to refer the case to the attorney general’s office for further investigation, and the case could be revived with King on the board at its next meeting this summer.
King posted on social media in 2020 that she had questions about the vote-counting process.
“Janelle will be a tremendous asset as an independent thinker and impartial arbiter who will put principle above politics and ensure transparency and accountability in our elections,” said Burns, a Republican from Newington.
King lives in Sandy Springs and also serves on the Georgia Board of Corrections.
Stephanie Ali of the New Georgia Project Action Fund, a voter registration and mobilization group, said King’s appointment poses a risk to election oversight.
“With this appointment, I’m increasingly concerned about the future politicization of a board that should be focused on running our elections smoothly and accessibly for Georgia voters, not on moving forward an agenda for partisan gain,” Ali said.
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Lindsey, whose two-year term expired earlier this year, said the State Election Board became more independent, reduced a backlog of cases and strengthened election processes during his tenure.
“I very much am concerned about this coming election, and I want to make sure that regardless of the outcome, that folks can have confidence in the accuracy of the results,” Lindsey said. “I enjoyed being part of the process to make that happen, and I wish my successor luck in getting the state through 2024.”
King joins a board whose membership has significantly changed since 2020.
Republican Gov. Brian Kemp recently appointed the board’s chairman, John Fervier, a Waffle House vice president, and the state Senate in January confirmed Republican Rick Jeffares, a former senator.
The Republican Party appointee on the board is Janice Johnston, a retired obstetrician, and the board’s Democratic Party member is Sara Tindall Ghazal, an attorney.
This article has been updated to remove incorrect information. The first Black member to serve on the State Election Board was Rita Jackson Samuels, a civil rights activist.
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