A judge has ordered elected leaders in Georgia’s Fulton County to appoint two Republican nominees they had rejected to the county’s election board.
The county Republican Party sued in June, seeking to force the Board of Commissioners to appoint the party’s nominees to the county Board of Registration and Elections, arguing that the commissioners were required to do so by law. In a ruling entered Monday, Senior Judge David Emerson agreed that the law doesn’t give Board of Commissioners the discretion to veto qualified nominees proposed by political parties.
The election board in the heavily Democratic county, which includes most of the city of Atlanta, is made up of five people. The Board of Commissioners chooses the chair, and the county Republican and Democratic parties each nominate two people to be appointed by the commissioners. Nominees must live in Fulton County, be registered to vote and cannot be public office holders.
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