Bolton County BRE postpones canvassing policy review, approves advanced voting sites for Aug. 26 special election

At a June 12 meeting, the Bolton County Board of Registration and Elections postponed consideration of a proposed canvassing pre-certification policy following a recent Georgia Supreme Court opinion and unanimously approved two advanced voting locations for a special Aug. 26 Senate District 21 election.

The board moved to delay action on the canvassing policy until its next regular meeting to allow staff and counsel to review how the court opinion and related State Election Board (SEB) rules affect the county’s proposed procedures. The board’s attorney said the opinion removed a single sentence from a cited rule and that, “If the process, pre certification and certification was based on the law as currently written or previously written, before this Georgia Supreme Court opinion, then yes, you can go forward.”

Why it matters: board members said they wanted legal clarity before the next election cycle. The board noted the county has a scheduled election on June 17 and asked the attorney to advise whether any immediate changes to precertification procedures are required before that date.

In other business, the board unanimously approved Milton Library and Alpharetta Library as advanced voting locations for the Aug. 26 special election covering precincts at the edge of Milton and parts of Roswell and Alpharetta. The Alpharetta site will include an absentee drop box. The board recorded the operational hours discussed for the two-week advanced voting period as 9 a.m.–5 p.m., with Saturday voting during the two weeks (no Sunday voting), and extended hours of 9 a.m.–6 p.m. in the final week. The motion passed by voice vote; the chair called the vote unanimous.

The board also set a precertification schedule tied to the special election. Members agreed to hold a precertification meeting at 3 p.m. Friday, June 20, with the intent to complete required review items that day and, if possible, certify. If certification could not be completed Friday, the board planned to reconvene at 10 a.m. Monday to finish. The board described the Friday target as the time when the numbered list of voters and the votes-cast-per-precinct report should be available.

Director Williams delivered the monthly operations report, saying staff had conducted the public service commission election without reported problems and were preparing for the called Aug. 26 Senate special election. Several board members requested printed copies of the office’s standard operating procedures; Director Williams said staff would attempt to provide hard copies within about a week but noted the office was in the middle of election activity.

During board questions, staff explained that precinct cards are mailed when a precinct changes; a card may also be generated if a voter makes edits to their record through the state system, which can trigger a new card. The board accepted that explanation and moved on to scheduling and logistical items.

Public comment: Maria Gaudio, the lone public speaker at the meeting, urged an election audit and alleged widespread problems in Fulton County, saying roughly 1.7 million signatures were fraudulent and that voter rolls had not been cleaned in years. Those claims were presented as her assertions; the board took no action on them at the meeting.

Less-critical items concluded the session, including approval of the board’s minutes from its May 8 meeting and routine procedural motions. The board voted unanimously on the motions noted above.