Fulton County’s election board and director are unlawfully withholding election records from a GOP board member, a new lawsuit alleges.
Filed on Tuesday by Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections (BRE) member Julie Adams, a Republican, the suit contends that the board and Elections Director Nadine Williams are preventing Adams from “performing her statutory duties as a BRE member” by denying her “access to essential election materials and processes by which elections in Fulton County are conducted.” Adams was appointed to the position in January and took office the following month.
“Plaintiff swore an oath to ‘prevent fraud, deceit, and abuse’ in Fulton County elections and to ‘make a true and perfect return,’” the lawsuit reads. “These obligations are frustrated by the repeated and continuing refusal to allow Plaintiff access to, and direct knowledge of, the information Plaintiff reasonably believes she needs to execute her duties faithfully and thoroughly.”
Adams has sought access to various “Elections Materials and Processes” relevant to her position on the BRE since taking office. Among these are the county’s qualified voter list and absentee ballot records. The former is a “list of all lawfully registered electors that are eligible to cast a ballot within a voting jurisdiction,” and the latter includes the list “of all electors who requested, received, and/or returned an Absentee Ballot” and all “Absentee Ballot applications and ballot envelopes.”
According to the suit, Georgia’s Authorization Act provides the BRE with the “exclusive power to certify the results of Fulton County elections.”
