Attempted GOP takeover of Fulton County elections board falls apart
An attempt by Georgia Republicans to take control of the Fulton County Board of Registrations and Elections fell apart this week after the GOP nominee to chair the board withdrew himself from consideration.
The Washington Post reports that Republican former county commissioner Lee Morris is no longer in the running to run the board after coming under pressure from Democrats and voting rights activists to step aside.
"Morris’s appointment would have given Republicans a majority on the Board of Registrations and Elections in a county that forms the core of metropolitan Atlanta and is governed by a majority-Democrat commission," notes the Post. "It has overwhelmingly favored Democratic candidates in recent elections and was a primary target of attacks and conspiracy theories by former president Donald Trump and his allies after Democrats flipped Georgia in the 2020 presidential election."
Morris was actually nominated last week by Democratic Fulton Commission Chairman Robb Pitts, who touted the Republican as someone who would oversee elections in the county fairly and without partisan bias.
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Additionally, Morris never disputed the certified results of the 2020 election in Georgia.
Nonetheless, this wasn't enough to stop Democrats in Georgia -- including Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff -- from lobbying against the appointment.
Josh McLaurin, a Democratic state senator who represents part of Fulton County, tells the Post that he believes Morris is a "nice guy" but nonetheless worried he would cave to pressure from his fellow Republicans to restrict voting access.
"It’s about the institutional pressures created by his partisan affiliation, and the partisan affiliation of the election deniers that the GOP is appointing to the board," he said. "He will not be able to say no to every single thing that they want and nothing he will ever do will satisfy them."