Georgia Republican chair feuds with Fulton County board over controversial appointment

Newly appointed Georgia Republican Party Chairman Josh McKoon on Wednesday slammed the Fulton County Board of Commissioners over their refusal to confirm a far-right nominee to serve on the county’s Board of Registration and Elections (BRE).

“The Georgia Republican Party is deeply disturbed by the stubborn refusal of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners to confirm the second of two nominees to the Fulton County Board of Registrations and Election (BRE) today,” McKoon said in a statement he posted on Twitter.

The majority Democrat county Board of Commissioners rejected nominee Jason Frazier, who challenged some 10,000 votes in 2021 under the state’s new voting law.

Commissioner Dana Barrett, a Democrat, said Frazier was “not a serious nomination.”

The progressive group Fair Fight, which lauded the commission’s move, describes Frazier’s nomination as being “part of a larger, nationally-coordinated effort to diminish the integrity of elections in Georgia and across the country—from the reported 94 local officials who have shown anti-democratic tendencies nationwide, to recent moves by Republican legislators to purge Black Democrats from election boards across Georgia.”

But McKoon in his statement cited the Local Act, which states that “[t]wo members shall be appointed by the governing authority of Fulton County from nominations made by the [chairperson of the Fulton County Republican Party].”

McKoon said commissioners have rejected qualified nominee twice.

“The nominee that has been rejected for a second time is a highly educated working professional who meets the legal requirements to serve,” McKoon said.

He claimed the nominee was rejected for trying to update Fulton County’s inaccurate voter rolls.

“Today’s decision is yet another blow to public confidence in elections in Fulton County. Denying the Republican Party equal representation on the BRE in violation of the clear language of the Local Act is unacceptable and will not be allowed to go unchallenged,” McKoon said.