FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — The battle over the Board of Elections has heated up in Fulton County.
The Fulton County Republican Party filed an emergency motion to hold the commissioners in criminal contempt for not seating two Republicans to the Board of Elections despite a judge’s order to do so.
The party is asking a judge to find and jail five county commissioners.
The two people they did not appoint Wednesday are Republicans Julie Adams and Jason Frazier.
Channel 2’s Courtney Francisco reported that Wednesday, Commissioners Dana Barrett and Mo Ivory said they can’t appoint the two option because they have a history of denying election results.
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The filing submitted by the Fulton County Republicans said the defendants “have been willfully refusing to comply with the writ of mandamus. .. As expected, the vote broke along party lines, with Defendants Bridget Thorne and Bob Ellis as the only members of the Board of Commissioners that voted to uphold the law and this Court’s orders.”
The GOP are seeking to “hold all Defendants except for Bridget Thorne and Bob Ellis in contempt, fining each in an amount up to $1,000 per day and imprisonment up to 20 days. In addition, the Fulton GOP seeks an award of its attorneys’ fees related to the filing, responses, preparation, and arguments for its two motions seeking contempt.”
They also have asked the court to set a hearing for Friday “to adjudicate this motion.”
In response, Democratic Party of Georgia Chair Charlie Bailey released the following statement Thursday night:
“Republicans are so hell-bent on giving election deniers power to meddle in our elections that they’re attempting to throw Fulton County Commissioners in jail for refusing to help them do so, even as the legal dispute is on appeal. Seeking to punish your political opponents for taking a vote you don’t like is as outrageous, undemocratic, and un-American as it gets. We stand with the Fulton County Commissioners as they, in turn, stand up for Fulton County voters and the integrity of our elections.”
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