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Metro Atlanta

Cobb elections board rejects challenges to voter rolls

People wait cast their votes at the Cobb County Elections Department in Marietta, Ga., in Atlanta, Monday, Dec. 14, 2020, during the first day of in-person advance voting in the Georgia runoff election for two U.S. Senate seats. The Jan. 5 contests will determine whether two incumbents, Sens. David Perdue (R-Ga.) and Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) keep their seats. (Lynsey Weatherspoons/The New York Times)
People wait cast their votes at the Cobb County Elections Department in Marietta, Ga., in Atlanta, Monday, Dec. 14, 2020, during the first day of in-person advance voting in the Georgia runoff election for two U.S. Senate seats. The Jan. 5 contests will determine whether two incumbents, Sens. David Perdue (R-Ga.) and Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) keep their seats. (Lynsey Weatherspoons/The New York Times)
By Meris Lutz
Dec 18, 2020

Citing a lack of evidence, the Cobb County Board of Elections swiftly rejected on Friday several challenges to the eligibility of tens of thousands of Cobb voters.

The challenges, including one filed by Jason Shepherd, who heads the Cobb Republican Party, relied on comparisons between the voter registration database and the Postal Service’s National Change of Address database to argue thousands of Cobb voters were no longer living in the county.

The board’s attorney, Gregg Litchfield, advised members at the start of Friday’s meeting that the mere production of the same name on two lists was “not sufficient” to prove anything.

“It could be an entirely different person,” said Litchfield during a meeting that was livestreamed to the public. “We’re talking about a national registry.”

Similar challenges are being filed across the state ahead of Georgia’s hotly contested Senate runoffs on January 5.

About the Author

Meris Lutz is a contributing writer covering climate, the environment and the economy. She is particularly interested in stories that explore the intersections between climate change and labor, markets, health, biodiversity, government transparency and public access to natural resources.

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