3 people are running for one Chatham Board of Elections seat. Two believe Trump won in 2020

The Chatham County Board of Elections' biggest responsibility is to certify election results.

Two candidates running for a board seat in the May 24 election believe the 2020 election was stolen, or at the very least, was unfair.

Robin Greco and Jennifer Salandi are challenging two-term incumbent Marianne Heimes for one of the two Republican seats on the board, which also includes two Democratic members. Their embrace of former President Donald Trump's false claims of a rigged election and their calls for "election integrity" have turned a race for what is largely an administrative process post into one of the most talked about in the Savannah area.

This election cycle marks the first time in the last 20 years that all four Board of Elections seats are being contested. And only the second time three people have sought the same seat.

Heimes says in the past, she hasn’t even gone out to campaign. A few yard signs here, a few public appearances there, but it’s not the kind of position you knock on doors and advertise for, Heimes said.

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But Salandi and Greco are taking different approaches. They're sending out mailers, putting up signs and speaking at Republican party events.

They're campaigning like it's a position with power, when it actually doesn't have much, Heimes said.

“I think people believe that they actually can make change by being on the Board of Elections, but there's really not much they can change," Heimes said. “They could try to make things better, like I'm trying to do, but really, we are there for one thing, and that's to have fair, safe elections for all the voters that are eligible to vote. There's really nothing else for us to do.”

Despite being a partisan post, board members typically avoid squabbling and grandstanding.

The board is largely administrative, tasked with implementing the state's election law in Chatham County, looking for ways to increase the efficiency of local election operations, approving changes to voting precincts and approving the allocation of voting machines. On rare occasions they are asked to determine on the legitimacy of a local candidate, as they did with Tony Riley in the 2020 Chatham Commission contest. Riley did not meet the state's eligibility requirements to hold office due to a previous felony conviction.

Much of the Board of Elections' business involves making decisions on small changes that affect the big picture, from relocating existing polling places to creating new ones and from keeping the public informed on changes in state election law to training the poll workers who facilitate voting at each precinct.

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Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News

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Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News

Perhaps the most important role of the Elections Board members is certifying the county's election results. Chatham's votes can't be sent to the state without their approval.

Board of Elections races are among the few decided in the primary, although a June runoff is possible in the Heimes-Greco-Salandi race should no candidate win a majority of the vote.

The winner's term won't begin until 2023, meaning current board members will be in place for the Nov. 8 general election.

Jennifer Salandi

Salandi is retired, formerly the owner of the Ballastone Inn, a bed and breakfast on Oglethorpe Avenue.

She said she was inspired to run after talking with John Gordon, the Trump-endorsed candidate for attorney general. At 73, she was retired, but as a “grassroots conservative all her life” she felt compelled to get back into the running, to "get up off the couch," she said.

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Credit: Jennifer Salandi

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Credit: Jennifer Salandi

She believes Trump won the 2020 election, and cited failed lawsuits and debunked theories as evidence, including the recent "2000 Mules" movie, which alleges 2,000 Democratic operatives stuffed ballot boxes in favor of Joe Biden.

"It was planned," she said during a John Fredricks radio interview. 

Salandi says she'd like to see a return to paper ballots, taking issue with the Dominion machines, which were one of the earlier Trump-actually-won scapegoats in 2020.

"If the machines were problematic — and 50% of the people say they were; 50% of the people say, ‘Oh, they're not.’ But you have to respect that other 50%, you gotta make as many people feel comfortable about voting as we can. That should be the goal,” Salandi said.

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Credit: AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File

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Credit: AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File

Additionally, Salandi said she supports merging the Board of Elections and Board of Registrars. Chatham is one of the only two counties in Georgia that keeps the two offices split. Union County is the only other.

Senate Bill 289, filed by now-retired Democratic Sen. Lester Jackson in 2021, would've merged the two offices. Republican House Reps. Jesse Petrea and Ron Stephens also filed similar legislation that year, House Bill 781. Neither bill ever made it to a vote.

She says she hopes to cut down on the long lines at precincts in Pooler. She wants to speed up Chatham's absentee ballot counting process, citing the issues in 2020 that put Chatham as one of the last counties in the state to certify the original count.

Robin Greco

Greco is a political newcomer, but some of her local fame stems from her car. Her SUV is covered in a Trump-themed vehicle wrap, featuring Trump's silhouette on the rear driver's side window. She worked as a nurse at the Georgia Institute of Plastic Surgery for 19 years, and served on the CASA board of directors.

Due to Georgia’s election day candidate signage law, she wouldn’t be able to drive the vehicle within 150 feet of a precinct on Election Day if Trump is on the ballot.

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Credit: Robin Greco

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Credit: Robin Greco

She listed her occupation as “homemaker” on her qualifying documents. Based on her campaign mailers, in which she says she will “Unite all Republicans — Conservatives, Moderates, and Trumpers,” she’s planning on doing what’s outlined by state law, mostly.

Despite her outward support of Trump, in a Facebook post of Greco speaking at a Southeast Georgia Republican Alliance event, she only touched lightly on the 2020 election, hinting at disagreeing with the results but never outright saying the election was stolen.

"Our election in 2020, I feel that maybe should have been looked at differently, should've counted, should have had signatures, everything should have been verified," Greco said at the SEGRA meeting.

Greco declined to be interviewed for this story, but when asked via text to clarify her views on the 2020 election, Greco wrote, "I think something happened! Myself and others that I talked to do not believe it was a fair election."

The 2020 vote count was tallied and certified three times in Georgia. Back then, the signature match provision was still in place. Now, identity at the polls is confirmed by state ID number.

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Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News

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Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News

Greco says voters should be citizens. State law says they have to be in order to vote, and locally, that falls under the Board of Registrars' purview, not the Elections Board.

She wants everyone to get one vote. State law only allows one vote per person.

She wants voter ID and signature verification to be confirmed correctly. Georgia doesn’t use signature verification anymore, and that's a law implemented at the state level anyway.

On her Facebook page, she said she supports independent audits and investigations, which she will not have the power to implement if elected.

Additional goals on Greco’s mailer include: “We want all Republicans to Vote” and “They must have Faith their Vote will COUNT. (Election Integrity)”

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: 3 people are running for one Chatham Board of Elections seat. Two believe Trump won in 2020