Fulton elections board debates written legal opinions and members’ access to documents; motions fail

At its Jan. 8 meeting, the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections debated whether the board should require written legal opinions and whether the board may vote to limit what members can see in election documents.

Member Adams moved that the board obtain a written legal opinion addressing two questions: whether the board has authority to restrict how members access election documents and whether an individual member must secure a board vote to request a legal opinion. "I make the motion that we ask for a written legal opinion as to whether we can restrict what we can see and how we can see it," Adams said during the motion.

The motion was seconded for discussion, but when the chair called for a formal motion to require the board to vote on requests for written legal advice, that motion failed for lack of a second. A later, narrower motion to get a written opinion specifically on the board’s authority to restrict members’ document access likewise failed for lack of a second. The chair noted concerns about workload for county counsel and the potential for privileged material to be disclosed in writing.

Board members raised two central concerns during debate: whether written opinions could contain privileged information not fit for broader distribution, and whether requiring written opinions would impose an undue workload on the county attorney’s office, which serves many county bodies. "If it was something that was privileged, I'd want to at least understand what care we're taking as a board to make sure that we're not breaching the privilege," one member said during discussion.

Counsel and staff also addressed the scope of the legal questions. Members sought clarity about which documents were at issue and whether requests were limited to particular items such as images of mail-in ballot envelopes or numbered voter lists. The board’s existing practice, several members said, has been to receive verbal legal advice in meetings and written opinions only when a new rule, policy or procedure is being adopted.

With no motion approved to change that practice at this meeting, the board left the existing practice unchanged: legal advice will continue to be provided in whatever form counsel and the board determine, subject to privilege and counsel workload considerations.

Next steps: the board moved on to other agenda items; members who want to review precinct- or election-level data were reminded that staff can provide spreadsheets and a template to help run checks ahead of certification.