Could there be a takeover of the Fulton election board? Raffensperger says state is 'frustrated'

Fulton Elections Board takeover

A provision nestled within SB 202 allows the State Elections Board to intervene with "underperforming" county election boards and replace them.

There are plenty of hoops to jump through before that can happen, though. In order to remove and replace a superintendent, the performance review board would have to find that the superintendent violated Georgia elections law three times in the last two general election cycles, or "demonstrated nonfeasance, malfeasance, or gross negligence in the administration of the elections for at least two elections in a two-year period," the bill reads.

“No one wants to take over a county election board. But when you have a situation that's gone on for 25 years, at some point, people say enough is enough,” Raffensperger said. “The rest of the state is getting frustrated. So are Fulton County residents. They want the results. They want them accurate. They want them on time.”

Raffensperger did note that a takeover would be a “nonpartisan” and “methodical” process, and “it probably wouldn't happen before 2022.”

“And so that would be something that the state election board would consider, perhaps, doing an investigation — a thorough investigation, bipartisan, nonpartisan, you want to make sure you do it with a methodical process,” Raffensperger said. “If you really look at the structure of SB 202. I think that's what you'll find. It supports a very methodical, careful, measured response.”

Trump’s lasting impression

After former President Donald Trump’s refusal to accept the results of Georgia’s 2020 presidential election, Raffensperger, along with Gov. Brian Kemp, became the target of criticism from members of their own party.

Two weeks ago at the State Republican Convention in Jekyll Island, Raffensperger was censured for “dereliction of duty,” mostly over complaints about the widespread use of absentee ballots during the 2020 election. He said he’s planning on “pushing forward,” and stands by the results of “a safe and secure election.”

“Those ballots have been counted three times. And all three results came up with virtually the same result. And that was that Vice President Biden carried the state of Georgia in 2020,” Raffensperger said.

Death threats

But lately, more dire threats than a GOP censure have been on his mind. On Friday, Raffensperger spoke about the months of death threats, including one that read "You and your family will be killed very slowly."

His wife, Tricia, spoke about the death threats with Reuters last week. It prompted the couple to take a several-months break from having their grandchildren visit.

Raffensperger said he and his family have talked about the death threats, and they have not dissuaded him from running for re-election. On Monday, he said both parties need to hold their own constituents accountable for their actions.

“Our politicians need to have that personal integrity to hold their side accountable, clean up your backyard. We need to clean up our backyard. And then we can talk together about what we need to make sure that we have honest elections, they're safe, they're secure,” Raffensperger said. “And we understand that elections are going to be contentious, they’re political situations, and they always happen. But there needs to be a certain standard of behavior that we expect from everyone.”

Dominion machines

Another common thread in many conspiracy theories both inside and outside of Georgia is tied to the Dominion Voting System, a new set of machines put into place at the start of 2020. Even after multiple recounts, there are still some who believe the Dominion machines were dysfunctional and were able to swap votes in favor of President Biden.

On Monday, Raffensperger said the recounts and audits that came after the Nov. 3 election would’ve been “virtually meaningless” on the old system, which had no functional paper audit trail, only a digital one.

“Well, let's do a recount. Boom, you press the button, the computer is going to give you the same answer. Having that paper ballot answered questions. It proved that, first of all, the machines were accurate,” Raffensperger said. “But also, the machines weren't flipping votes. As soon as you looked at the human-readable text and it said you voted for Trump, by then you knew it was accurate.”

Forensic audits

Raffensperger also touched on the notion of a "forensic audit" of the Nov. 3 results in Georgia. It's the latest rallying cry from Republicans who believe Trumps "Big Lie," in part spurred on by a third-party audit of 2.1 million ballots in Maricopa County, Arizona, which is still underway.

In Fulton County, a judge has signed off on unsealing absentee ballots to allow for yet another audit of the Nov. 3 results from Georgia's most populous county, though that process is currently on hold.

The audits can't put Trump in office, the time for that has long since passed, but Raffensperger said he's open to the idea of a third-party audit.

"I don't believe it'll show anything. We've already done a forensic audit of the machines, so the accuracy of the machines has been certified. We did a 100% hand recount. But if someone wants to look at the fibers of the paper, if it can help restore voter confidence at the end of the day. I don't believe that the results will change."

"Sometimes, people say, 'Why are you being so open to that idea?' Because I understand that voter confidence is very important," Raffensperger said. "It's taking shots from both sides of the aisle, and we want people to have confidence that when they go out to vote, their vote will count."

Will Peebles is the enterprise reporter for Savannah Morning News. He can be reached at wpeebles@gannett.com and @willpeeblessmn on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Could there be a takeover of the Fulton election board? Raffensperger says state is 'frustrated'