On Wednesday, two Republican board members defended their actions, saying the meeting was legal and that while they were appointed to the board by Republicans, they are not at the mercy of their party.
“I’m just trying to do the right thing,” board member Janelle King told the AJC. “The rules we put in place will help all Georgians.”
Democrats in the state see McKoon’s influence as further evidence that Republicans are paving the way for a challenge to Democratic victories in November’s presidential election.
“These committee officials should not be taking political sides with the Republican Party, (former President) Donald Trump or any other candidate, and should meet again in public to restore public confidence ahead of a close election,” said the party’s executive director, Tolrope Kevin Olasanoye. in a statement to the AJC.
McKoon did not respond to a request for comment.
Debate over election rules has intensified since President Trump, who narrowly lost the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden, sought to overturn the results by alleging widespread voter fraud. Numerous investigations by state and federal authorities, as well as by Trump’s own campaign, have found no evidence of fraud that could have affected the outcome of the election.
Trump and others are currently facing criminal charges in Georgia and Washington state for what prosecutors say was an illegal plot to overturn Biden’s victory.
Republican lawmakers have made multiple changes to election laws in recent years in the wake of President Trump’s allegations of voter fraud, and now the state elections board wants to change some rules as well.
On July 9, the committee advanced a proposal to allow local election boards to review vast amounts of documents before certifying the results of this year’s presidential election. Supporters say the measure is necessary to prevent votes from being overlooked, as has happened in some counties. Critics say the measure would allow local Republican committee members to launch endless investigations to justify refusing to certify Democratic victories.
On Friday, three Republican commissioners who have criticized the administration’s handling of the 2020 presidential election — Reps. Jefferies, King and Janice Johnston — proposed two more rules: one that would require county election boards to post daily online vote tallies on their websites, and another that would increase the number of partisan observers during vote counts.
Supporters say the rules would increase transparency in Georgia’s elections.
“This isn’t a Republican versus Democrat issue,” said Jefferies, a former Republican who served with McCoun in the state senate. “This is simply good election law.”
But McKeown’s involvement drew criticism from Democrats and American Oversight, a left-leaning open-government group.
“If the three board members who convened this sham meeting were stuffed with proposed new regulations by partisan activists looking to gain quick partisan advantage, it may explain why the board members were so determined to push through these changes, even in direct violation of Georgia law,” American Oversight said in a statement to the AJC.
According to documents obtained by the AJC, McKoon emailed Jefferies two proposed rule documents on July 8. He CC’d two Republican officials, Josh Helton, senior counsel for election integrity at the Republican National Committee, and Alex Kaufman, counsel for the Georgia Republican Party.
“As discussed herein, there are four files here, and each proposed rule is accompanied by a short, one-page argument document summarizing the key parts and the reasons for adoption,” Macoun wrote.
Jefferies forwarded McKune’s email to the State Election Board’s lawyer and asked that it be shared with other board members.
“We have nothing to hide,” Jeffers told the AJC when asked about Macoun’s involvement. “People can reach out to us.”
The next day, the board met, but after a day of meetings, Chairman John Favier adjourned the meeting until the following morning without taking any action on McKeown’s proposed rules. Jeffers, Johnston, and King were unable to attend the next day, so Favier announced that the meeting would be adjourned until an unspecified time that day.
Jeffers, Johnston and King had hoped to resume the meeting on Friday, but the state Attorney General’s office suggested in an email to board members that meeting on such short notice may be illegal.
Georgia’s Open Meetings Act requires at least a week’s notice for non-emergency meetings, and attorneys questioned whether the current situation constitutes an emergency.
Still, Jeffers, Johnston and King, along with the board’s executive director, Mike Coan, called the meeting for Friday. They cited a provision that requires 24 hours’ notice in emergency or special circumstances. They said the meeting was necessary to get the rules in place in time for the November election.
But notice of the meeting was not posted on the elections board’s website, and the meeting was not livestreamed. Jeffers said he sent email notices to many people interested in the rules and posted a notice on the door of a conference room at the Georgia State Capitol. Dozens of people attended Friday’s meeting.
Verbier and Democratic appointee Sarah Tyndall Ghazal were unavailable for the meeting. Attendees passed rules requiring counties to release daily vote tallies, but did not approve McCoun’s proposed rules to increase the number of poll watchers. Instead, they approved another proposal to increase the number of watchers, but in smaller numbers.
The status of the rule is unclear. Typically, rules are posted on the commission’s website for 30 days for public comment, after which the commission will meet again to consider final approval.
But Jeffares and King said the Secretary of State’s office hasn’t published rules for public comment, nor did it release notice of Friday’s meeting as they requested.
A spokesman for Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said the department would assist the State Election Board by posting such materials at the request of Chairman Ferbier, but Ferbier has not made any such request. Ferbier did not respond to a request for comment.
Meanwhile, the board’s approval of the two rules has sparked growing backlash, with Democrats and American Oversight threatening to file a lawsuit challenging the rules for violating open meeting requirements.
Fulton County election officials also called on Gov. Brian Kemp to fire the three elections board members and the executive director who attended Friday’s meeting. Kemp’s office responded Wednesday that state law does not allow the governor to take such action.
Kathy Woolard, who filed the complaint as an individual, disagreed with the governor’s office and suggested the issue may need to be resolved through litigation.
“I think we’re going to have to do this the hard way,” she said.
Staff writer Mark Nease contributed to this article.
Credit: TNS
Credit: TNS
Credit: Ziyu Julian Zhu/AJC
Credit: Ziyu Julian Zhu/AJC
Credit: Ziyu Julian Zhu/AJC
Credit: Ziyu Julian Zhu/AJC
