Fines against Fulton County over election board appointments put on hold pending appeal

Fulton County Commissioner Dana Barrett (right) speaks outside the Fulton County courthouse in Atlanta on Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025, while her colleague, Commissioner Mo Ivory, looks on. (AP Photo/Kate Brumback)

A judge has put on hold his ruling ordering the government of Georgia’s most populous county to pay $10,000 a day until it appoints two Republican nominees to its election board.

Superior Court Judge David Emerson on Wednesday held the Fulton County Board of Commissioners in contempt after finding they hadn’t complied with his earlier order to appoint the nominees. But since the commissioners informed him that they intend to appeal his contempt order, the law requires him to pause his ruling, he wrote in an order late Thursday.

Democrats on the Board of Commissioners voted in May and again last week not to approve the appointments of Republican nominees Julie Adams and Jason Frazier, saying their past actions made them unsuitable nominees for the county election board. The county Republican Party then sued, seeking to force the appointments.