Camden County hearing resolves multiple elector challenges; board approves many removals, tables several for more information

The Camden County Board of Elections and Registration convened a public hearing on April 17 to adjudicate elector challenges filed by challenger Kyle Rapp. The hearing covered more than two dozen challenged registrations alleging out-of-jurisdiction homestead exemptions, commercial addresses, post-office-box mailing addresses, vacant-lot registrations and other irregularities.

Vice Chair Julia McCullough presided over the hearing and read the statutory standard for challenges, noting the board would follow Georgia Code provisions and administrative-evidence rules. Challenger Kyle Rapp presented batches of evidence drawn from public absentee-files, county records and third-party searches to support multiple challenge categories: homestead exemptions in other states, registrations listing hotels/motels or commercial addresses, registrations using P.O. boxes in St. Marys, and registrations tied to vacant lots or non-existent addresses.

The board grouped similar cases for decision-making. It approved challenges for a set of registrants whose records show homestead exemptions in other states or evidence of registration in other jurisdictions, and the board approved removals for multiple registrations at commercial addresses and P.O. boxes after staff-confirmed contacts and certified-mail attempts. The board also approved removal for a group of registrations that used addresses later shown to be commercial or invalid, while withdrawing two challenges after the registrants corrected their registration address to the county’s preferred physical address.

Where evidence was incomplete or further confirmation was warranted, the board tabled specific cases for additional investigation. The board tabled two registrants who reported a homestead exemption in another state (Alexander and Shelby Law) to allow those registrants time to provide additional documentation at the board’s May meeting. The board also tabled the challenge to a registrant identified as Zoltan Mester pending verification of whether he is a permanent U.S. citizen overseas (which would restrict his ballot to federal offices) or a domestic registrant eligible for state and local ballots. The board likewise tabled challenges to two elderly registrants who use a St. Marys P.O. box (Carol Elliott Collins and Elwin Ford Collins Sr.) so staff could pursue additional outreach before a removal decision.

County staff and the challenger regularly reported attempts to contact registrants by certified mail, phone and email; staff noted several certified-mail packets were returned as undeliverable and several others were signed for. Where staff confirmed a registrant had changed an address during the hearing (for example the owner or occupant of a Downtown St. Marys lot who changed a previously incorrect street number to 101 Dilworth Street), Rapp withdrew the formal challenge for those individuals because the corrected registration addressed the board’s concern.

County attorney Jackie Fortier and staff answered board questions about the legal tests for residency and domicile, explaining that affirmative steps such as claiming a homestead exemption in another state are strong evidence of a change of domicile under Georgia law. The attorney reminded the board that parties have an administrative right to an appeal to superior court within 10 days of a registrar decision.

The board took a series of grouped motions, approving many challenges and removals as a group and voting to table the handful of cases that required more documentation. Board members emphasized there was no indication of fraudulent intent in several military-household and first-time-homebuyer cases; several members urged staff to provide clear notice and a path to re-register for any voter removed who later re-establishes Georgia residency.

The hearing record shows multiple procedural outcomes: approvals to remove registrants from the Camden rolls for lack of qualifying residency, tableing of select cases for follow-up at the May meeting, and withdrawal of a small number of challenges after registrants proactively corrected their registration address.