ATLANTA — The Fulton County Commission will have to pay $10,000 a day in fines if it doesn’t seat two Republican nominees to the elections board by noon on Friday.
A judge found the commission in contempt of court on Wednesday.
Democrats and Republicans get to nominate people to the county Board of Elections. But county commissioners voted against two Republican nominees, claiming they are election deniers.
During the morning hearing, the Fulton County Commission’s attorney tried to convince Judge David Emerson that they weren’t being defiant when they seemed to disobey his direct order to appoint the Republican nominees to the Board of Elections.
“They are not in defiance of this court. They are not disrespectful of the political process. They are not disrespectful, and I know that from having spoken to them. They’re not disrespectful of the judiciary,” Fulton County Commission Attorney Don Samuel told the judge.
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But Emerson thought otherwise. He socked the entire county commission with a $10,000 a day fine starting on Friday at noon.
“The court does find that the respondent board of commissioners has been stubbornly litigious and acted in bad faith prior to this litigation by its failure to comply with clear local legislation which forced the plaintiff to file this action,” the judge’s ruling said.
Before the hearing, two commissioners who voted against the GOP nominees insisted they would only negatively impact future elections.
“I believe they are both election deniers who are doing everything they can to undermine faith in our election and in the election process,” Fulton County Commissioner Dana Barrett said.
But in court, the attorney for the Georgia GOP, Trey Oliver III, argued it didn’t matter that since the two were their nominees, the commissioners had no choice but to follow the judge’s original ruling and seat them.
“These five commissioners would rather pander to their constituents than follow the order of this court or any court’s order. That cannot stand,” Oliver said.
In a statement, Georgia GOP Chair Josh McKoon applauded the ruling, saying, “Elected officials should obey the law.”
Fulton County had said it had no comment on pending legislation. This is still potentially headed to the Georgia Court of Appeals.
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