Democrats seek to force Kemp to hold hearing on Georgia election board members

Georgia Democrats filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking to compel Gov. Brian Kemp (R) to hold a hearing over three Georgia State Election Board members after the Democrats issued ethics charges against them.

Three Democrats in the Peach State issued a lawsuit asking the Fulton County Superior Court to require Kemp to take up a hearing on Georgia State Election Board members Rick Jeffares, Janice Johnston and Janelle King.

The lawsuit noted the Democrats submitted formal ethics charges on each member to Kemp. The Democrats allege that the three members violated Georgia law “by calling and participating in an illegal meeting” on July 12; “consistently acting contrary to the advice of the AG in official matters relating to their public duties as members of the State Election Board;” and voted on rules that favored one party, among other allegations.

“While we have not yet been served, it is not our practice to comment on pending or active litigation,” Garrison Douglas, a spokesperson for Kemp, said in a statement in response to the lawsuit.

“However, what I can speak to is this: Per the standard stated in the Attorney General’s opinion, there have been no formal charges filed that would trigger the governor’s statutory authority to … act on these matters,” he continued. “As he has done in the past, the governor will follow the laws and constitution of our state.”

The State Election Board has been under increasing scrutiny this year. In July, government watchdog group American Oversight sued members of the board, including Jeffares, Johnston and King — all members lauded by former President Trump — alleging they held a meeting on July 12 without proper notice to the public and without proper quorum in person.

American Oversight also alleged the members convened the meeting “knowing that the Attorney General’s office had instructed them that their plans were likely unlawful under the Open Meetings Act” and that the three members were “trying to push through controversial proposals without the due notice required by — and consequent robust discussion and debate contemplated under — the Open Meetings Act.”

Following the lawsuit, members of the board reversed course and signaled they would revisit the rules they voted on during that meeting, according to The Associated Press.

More recently, the State Election Board convened last week, where they ruled in favor of passing a controversial new rule mandating hand-counting ballots at precincts.