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Cobb County elections board adopts amended bylaws after debate over secretary, clerk and executive-session minutes
Summary
The Cobb County Board of Elections and Registration voted unanimously to approve amended and restated bylaws after discussing whether the board should keep an elected secretary, clarify a clerk role, and how executive-session minutes will be handled.
The Cobb County Board of Elections and Registration voted unanimously Thursday to adopt amended and restated bylaws after members debated the status and duties of a board secretary and the role of a clerk during executive sessions.
Board members discussed adding the secretary back into Article 4 as the third officer to serve “for a term of two years or until successor is duly appointed and qualified,” and to make the secretary the chair pro tempore in the absence of the chair and vice chair. Daniel White, counsel to the board, said the secretary had been removed in an earlier draft and later reinserted to ensure someone could run meetings when other officers were absent. “That’s a good catch,” White said when a public commenter pointed out missing secretary language.
The adopted language preserves the officer role for a secretary and creates a separate clerk function: the elections director will designate a member of elections department staff to serve as clerk to assist the secretary in preparing agendas and maintaining minutes. The bylaws also add a provision that the secretary will take executive-session minutes and allow the board, at its discretion, to invite the clerk into executive session to assist with those minutes.
Board members also agreed to change internal terminology distinguishing an acting elections director (temporary absence expected to return) and an interim elections director (permanent departure) and updated corresponding sections of Article 7. Counsel read the compiled set of edits aloud before members moved to approve the amended and restated bylaws.
Mr. Bruning moved to approve the revised bylaws; Ms. Fisher seconded. The motion passed unanimously.
The board’s chair said the bylaws had not been substantially revised since the 1980s and called the update “long overdue.” The board will publish the final text in its packet and is expected to use the clarified secretary/clerk provisions in upcoming meetings.
