The Fulton County Board of Commissioners confirmed Sherri Allen as the new chair of the county’s Board of Registration & Elections, its third chair this year.
The commissioners voted 6-0 Monday to approve Commissioner Khadijah Abdur-Rahman’s nomination of Allen. Republican Commissioners Bob Ellis and Bridget Thorne crossed party lines, voting to confirm Allen, who will serve the remaining 11 months of a two-year term that expires June 30.
The appointment preserves the election board’s Democratic majority.
Georgia election officials are keeping a close eye on the state’s most populous county ahead of this year’s presidential election, as the county has a history of poorly managed elections.
In May, the Republican-controlled State Election Board reprimanded Fulton and called for the county to install independent election monitors for errors made during one of the recounts of the 2020 presidential election. Investigators found Fulton likely double-scanned over 3,000 ballots during the recount, although they were unable to determine whether the ballots were actually counted twice.
The investigation highlighted the most recent error in Fulton elections but found no indication of election fraud during the 2020 presidential election, when Joe Biden won the state by less than 12,000 votes over former President Donald Trump.
In July, the secretary of state’s office and the Fulton election board approved a proposal to install election monitors ahead of November. That proposal now awaits approval from the state board.
Allen, an attorney, chairs the Sandy Springs Board of Appeals and is also on the board of the Solidarity Sandy Springs food pantry.
Allen is a regular voter, according to state records. Since 2012, she has voted in eight Democratic primaries and in the Republican primary in 2022.
Before Allen’s nomination earlier this month, Cathy Woolard notified Fulton County Commission Chair Robb Pitts of her intention to step down as the interim election board chair effective July 25.
Pitts asked Woolard to chair the board after Patrice Perkins-Hooper gave up the post in April to serve as Atlanta’s interim city attorney.
In her short-lived term, Woolard oversaw the May primary and the June runoff elections.
In Woolard’s parting words at the county election board’s July meeting, she urged the board and whoever takes her place as chair to set politics aside and keep the county’s interest above all else.
“Even though people want to tear down Fulton County for things that may or may not have happened in the past, we have moved on from that,” she said. “Others may not have, but we have moved on from there and really great things are happening.”
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