State Election Board reconvenes after secretary of state booted from chair

A new leader is set to run Georgia’s State Election Board meeting Wednesday for the first time since the Legislature passed controversial election changes shifting the panel’s power.

Vice-Chair Rebecca Sullivan will replace Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger as head of the board that oversees state election laws. Removing the state’s top election chief as a voting member of the panel also comes as the board gets newfound authority to intervene in managing local elections.

Various civil rights groups have criticized changes in the board’s operation as among the most troubling measures in the sweeping legislation Republicans ushered through in March in their attempt to restore confidence in the election system.

The new law gives the General Assembly the ability to appoint the majority of the State Election Board by removing the secretary of state as the chair. But with the session not resuming until January, Gov. Brian Kemp has the authority to fill that that role.

Read more: https://georgiarecorder.com/2021/04/27/state-election-board-reconvenes-after-secretary-of-state-booted-from-chair/