A dispute about early voting access in Gwinnett County has escalated, with Republican and Democratic members of the county's elections board questioning the county's authority not to fund as much early voting as the board requested.
The county's elections board wanted to expand early voting for elections in March, May and November, but Gwinnett has only committed to adding early voting hours in the November election. In addition to elections board members reiterating their request at a meeting Tuesday, the state and county NAACP, along with two voting rights groups, sent the county a letter this week asking early voting be expanded as the board intended. The letter also questioned county officials' explanations for why more early voting wasn't approved.
Gwinnett’s elections board wanted to hold early voting at each of its eight locations for 19 days, but the county funded 19 days of early voting at only one location, its main office. Early voting at seven other locations will take place over 12 days. The schedule is the same as it was for a special election in March 2019.
County officials first said they weren’t increasing early voting for the March and May primaries because new voting machine delivery delays wouldn’t give them enough time to train poll workers. Having early voting at just one location for a week, they said, would allow for training opportunities and give officials time to troubleshoot any issues as necessary.
A county spokesperson later said the expanded early voting request wasn't happening because county commissioners didn't approve the money to do so in their budget.
The delivery of election equipment began Jan. 30 — it was delayed from the previous week — and Elections Supervisor Kristi Royston said Tuesday that a number of machines weren’t delivered until last week. Some equipment has still not arrived.
County Chairman Charlotte Nash, who attended the elections board meeting Tuesday, said the money to add extra hours at seven additional early voting locations was available in a contingency fund, but she didn’t think there was enough time to train enough poll workers to operate at all locations. Cutting some early voting hours from the elections board’s recommended amount was a “small price to pay” for a successful election, she said.
“Realistically, it’s not the budget that’s the constraint on this,” Nash said.
That didn’t satisfy some members of the county elections board. Alice O’Lenick, a Republican appointee, said Tuesday she thought the county should honor the full early voting request — even though she originally voted against it.
“In my opinion, the county acted without respect nor with due authority in changing what this board has voted on,” she said. “If others make decisions which are granted to the board of elections only, we may as well throw out these laws.”
She added that she thought the election board’s decision in regard to early voting hours should be upheld.
Stephen Day, a Democratic appointee, said he agreed with O’Lenick “to the T.”
“The idea that the board was not involved in that is an administrative failure,” he said. “I think it’s disrespectful.”
Nash disagreed with the premise that the extra voting hours should be added just because they had been requested. Commissioners are responsible for the budget, she said, and they often get more requests for money than they can afford. She said commissioners “very much want to” add more early voting hours in May, though they won’t do so in March. The full 19 days of early voting at all locations are planned for November.
“This is important to me, too,” Nash said. “I do apologize for anything that appears to be a lack of respect.”
In the letter sent by the two NAACP groups, the Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, representatives said they wanted more early voting hours “to prevent voters from being subjected to the delays that made headlines in 2016 and 2018, and from being turned away and disenfranchised in the March primary election.” They also questioned the initial explanation that the decision was made based on funding.
John Powers, an attorney for the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said he was “no closer to understanding” why county officials didn’t add the requested hours from the beginning.
“I barely understand what they say happened, let alone what really happened,” he said.
Penny Poole, the president of the Gwinnett NAACP, said earlier the move not to follow the election board’s request was akin to voter suppression. Tuesday, she said she was concerned that there would be long lines and disarray without more early voting locations.
Tuesday, after hearing from Nash, elections board members said they still weren't sure whether or not the county would heed their requests and expand early voting in May.
“She acted like she wanted to do it, but she left it hanging,” Day said.
John Mangano, the board chair, said, “That’s how I heard it, as well.”
