Fayette County elections board rejects voter eligibility challenge

In a Dec. 22 called meeting, the Fayette County Board of Elections rejected a voter eligibility challenge for lack of evidence. In a Dec. 17 letter, Tyrone resident Peter Pfeifer, who served as a county commissioner from 2000 to 2008, claimed to have “evidence that there are approximately 2,782 individuals registered to vote in Fayette County who reside outside the State of Georgia.” He sent the board a thumb drive with a list of names reportedly gleaned from a national change of address registry and Fayette County voter records. Pfeifer asked the board to find probable cause to challenge those individuals’ right to vote in the current runoff.

Agnes Bridges, acting director of elections and voter registration, said an analysis of a random sample of the names found that most were already listed as ineligible and others were active but hadn’t voted in the last two to four years. Patrick Stough of the county attorney’s office said putting voters on a challenge list without more specific information would violate federal law. He noted that members of the military and college students are among those who forward their mail but maintain state residency.

Elections board members Darryl Hicks and Aaron Wright agreed that the threshold for probable cause was not met, and voted against the challenge; member Addison Lester was absent.