Atlanta – Tomorrow, the Fulton County Board of Commissioners will vote on Republican Party nominees for the Fulton County election board. Both nominees have a well-documented history of undermining elections, and their records have drawn major concerns from Fulton commissioners and Fulton residents. Fair Fight CEO Lauren Groh-Wargo released the following statement ahead of tomorrow’s vote:

“The GOP nominees Adams and Frazier have well-documented records of undermining elections and spreading false claims – proving they’re unfit to serve on the Fulton County election board.

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“The nominees’ work with the Election Integrity Network also raises major red flags. EIN spreads false information and trains activists to challenge voters and pressure officials into passing restrictive voting laws. The group is led by Trump lawyer Cleta Mitchell, who worked to overturn Trump’s 2020 loss and advised him on his call to pressure Georgia’s Secretary of State to “find” votes he did not earn.

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“The Fulton County Board of Commissioners is still appealing the original order mandating they confirm Adams and Frazier – that order did not compel individual, elected commissioners to vote for these extremist nominees. The commissioners continue to show confidence that their legal arguments will prevail on appeal.”

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“With the appeal still working through the legal system, it’s our hope that Fulton County’s elected commissioners will continue to fight to protect the independence of its elections on behalf of their constituents.”

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BACKGROUND: In Fulton County, Georgia (the state’s largest and bluest county, where Black voters make up the largest voting bloc), the election board is made up of 5 seats, each county political party gets two nominations, there’s also a chair. The GOP is demanding Fulton County’s elected commissioners install two far-right election deniers – Jason Frazier and Julie Adams – on the election board. The candidates were rejected by the Fulton commissioners in a 5-2 vote in May. Commissioners shared concerns about their qualifications for the board. Rather than nominating new candidates, the Fulton GOP (being bankrolled and supported by the RNC with “no limit”) has escalated the dispute – filing legal motions to hold the commissioners in criminal contempt and asking the judge to give them jail time.

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THIS HAS HAPPENED BEFORE: This same fight occurred in 2023, when the Fulton GOP sued the Fulton Board of County Commissioners over their rejection of Jason Frazier’s nomination to the county election board. But instead of demanding jail time, the Republican Party dropped its suit, seeming to acknowledge the BOC’s discretion, and submitted a new nominee. The law hasn’t changed – the Republican Party’s tactics have.

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THE COMMISSIONERS’ ARGUMENT: The court’s previous order focuses on local law that states the Fulton County Board of Commissioners must appoint members to the election board “from nominations” submitted by political parties – but it does not require any specific commissioner to vote yes to the appointments, nor does it guarantee that a party’s nominees must be accepted.

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• The law gives political parties the right to nominate, not to appoint. If the legislature wanted political parties to have appointment power, the law would reflect that.
• “Nominate” means to propose; “appoint” means to choose from among.
• The power of appointment includes discretion.

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THE LATEST: After an August 27 hearing, the judge issued a ruling, holding the Fulton County Board of Commissioners in civil contempt for not confirming the GOP nominees, with fines of $10,000 per day until they do so. Fulton County’s appeal challenging the original order directing the nominees’ appointment will continue to go forward. On Thursday, August 28, Fulton County won a reprieve halting those fines as the appeal continues.

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WHAT’S NEXT: On Wednesday, September 3, there will be a Fulton County Commission meeting, where these GOP nominees will be up for a vote again – it is unclear how the chair will vote.

Julie Adams’ Documented History of Undermining Elections:

• Julie Adams was confirmed to the Board of Elections in February 2024, then quickly hired by Mitchell’s Election Integrity Network as a regional coordinator, later promoted to director.
• Adams refused to certify the 2024 primary election and filed a lawsuit, backed by Trump allies at the America First Policy Institute, against the Board of Elections itself.
• Reporting revealed she worked behind the scenes with other county election board members who embraced Trump’s Big Lie to push new rules that would make it easier to block certification of results.
• Adams also helped secretly push a rule change to the Trump-aligned Georgia State Election Board that would have empowered local officials to deny certification. That rule was ultimately blocked by a judge, who called it “illegal, unconstitutional and void.”

Jason Frazier Documented History of Undermining Elections:

• Jason Frazier has filed voter challenges targeting nearly 10,000 Fulton residents.
• He participated in EIN strategy calls, and helped develop mass voter challenge software backed by Mitchell.
• He has sued to remove voters from the rolls during federally protected periods and posted voters’ personal information. 
• He even called for criminal investigations into Fulton election officials.

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