Five Democratic officials in Georgia are facing a possible contempt of court citation after defying a judge's order requiring them to seat two Republican election deniers on the county election board.
The Fulton County Republican Party nominated 2020 election conspiracy theorists Julie Adams and Jason Frazier to the election board, but the Democratic-controlled commission rejected them 5-2 in May, and they deadlocked 2-2 along party lines when they voted again last week, with three commissioners absent, after Senior Superior Court Judge David Emerson ordered them seated, reported the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“They both have long track records of behavior and actions that are aimed at undermining elections,” said Democratic commissioner Dana Barrett, who voted against the pair last week.
Emerson ruled earlier this month that state law requires commissioners to approve the GOP nominees, but the commission's request to pause the order while they appeal was denied by the Georgia Court of Appeals, but Barrett and fellow Democrat Mo Ivory are prepared to accept jail or fines for voting against the pair.
“The law says the commission shall appoint members from nominations made by political parties, not that parties can force through any nominee,” Ivory said.
Adams argued last year, when she previously served on the board of elections, that she had the authority to withhold certification of the vote if she believed the results were incorrect or unreliable, which she did after Fulton County's 2024 primary election, and Frazier has reportedly filed thousands of voter registration challenges in the county.
"We exercised our free will," Barrett told WAGA-TV. "I'm not going to be changing my vote, so if the board is going to get these two people seated, they are going to have to find four votes without me."
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who famously rejected Donald Trump's call in January 2021 to "find" exactly as many votes as he needed to overturn Joe Biden's win, criticized the commissioners for voting against the GOP nominees.
“Defiance of the rule of law may seem like good politics to some, but it is reckless,” Raffensperger said in a statement. “Court orders are not optional — they must be followed. Our Republic depends on adherence to the rule of law.”
Democratic Party of Georgia party chair Charlie Bailey defended Barrett and Ivory, saying they were protecting voters from a pair of "election deniers."
"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," Bailey said. "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."