MOULTRIE – Three people were appointed to the new Colquitt County Board of Elections and Registration last week, and the chairs of both local political parties immediately voiced concerns with two of them.

The Colquitt County Commission appointed Aileen Gay, Ronald Jordan and Tonita Scott at its regular meeting, and they appointed Florene Sellers as an alternate.

During the meeting Shirley Hampton, chair of the Colquitt County Democratic Party, and Dennis Futch, chair of the Colquitt County Republican Party, expressed their concerns over the appointments.

A Georgia law effective in May of this year states any county that did not have a board of elections and registration must create one no later than Dec. 15. Colquitt County wad one of 13 counties that did not have a board of elections.

Earlier this year, County Administrator Chas Cannon brought the issue before the county commissioners. He said that he and County Attorney Lester Castellow had met with Probate Judge Wes Lewis, who’s currently in charge of election proceedings, and the staff in the registrar’s office to come up with recommendations.

Cannon and Castellow recommended that three people would be on the board of elections. The board of commissioners would select them. Lewis and the registrar’s office would assist with the transition to the board of elections.

According to the Georgia Code, “Each such board of elections and registration shall assume the duties of the county’s election superintendent, shall have the powers and duties of the election superintendent relating to the conduct of primaries and elections, and shall have the powers and duties of a board of registrars relating to the registration of voters and absentee balloting procedures beginning on January 1, 2025.”

Opposition’s concerns

“Is it something you all decide or do the Democrat chair and Republican chair get a say-so?” asked Hampton during the meeting and also asked how the commissioners decided on the appointees.

Commission Chair Denver Braswell responded that they had made their decisions on who to appoint after they had looked at the nine applicants’ resumes and discussed their qualifications.

Futch told the commission that he wasn’t notified that the vote was happening that night. He voiced concerns over one of the appointees and the issue of them not being what he would call a Republican. He and his party had advanced one of the other applicants, he said.

“Somebody should have called me. Y’all mull on that a little bit,” he said.

Then, Hampton also voiced concerns over another of the appointees. She said the individual was not a part of the Democratic Party.

“As a general rule, it should not matter, party affiliation, if they’re attempting to do a job correctly by a set of standards. There should be very few times that their personal preference should ever come into play,” said Braswell.

He went on to say that if there was ever a time when the appointees were performing their job incorrectly, the commissioners or the state office could correct the problem.

Commissioner Johnny Hardin said that they had to narrow it down to three and there were others on the list that would have done a good job, too, but they had to narrow it down.

“I would just like to say, party affiliation did not come up in our deliberations. So, I don’t know who’s Democrat and who’s a Republican. We didn’t request that information on the application and we did not discuss it,” said Commissioner Barbara Jelks.

State requirements

Hampton said, “So what do the State of Georgia require because what I was told was we had to have one from each party.”

Castellow responded that the charter of the board of elections said that each party could propose a candidate but the commissioners made the decision. He said that the charter did not outline what the applicants’ qualifications should be except that they must be qualified to vote in Colquitt County.

The Code of Georgia states, “The county executive committees of the political parties whose candidates at the last preceding regular general election held for the election of Governor that received the largest and second largest number of votes in this state for Governor may submit a list of recommended appointees to a county governing authority for appointment to a board established pursuant to this Code section; provided, however, that such governing authority is under no obligation to appoint any person listed on such list of recommended appointees.”

Futch asked the commissioners, “Do y’all think it might be a problem, of you going against the recommendations of both parties in this?”

Braswell said that he wasn’t aware of any recommendations from either party.

“Chas is … so … you know now,” responded Futch.

The board of elections members will serve four-year terms with provision to be less or more to incorporate staggered terms. They will be W-2 employees of the county, receiving $60 per month and will hold monthly meetings.