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Fulton County BRE adopts public comment policy, shortens sign-up cutoff to 10 minutes
Summary
After legal review and debate over First Amendment limits, the board approved a public-comment policy that allows sign-ups until 10 minutes before meetings, prioritizes Fulton County residents when necessary, and reserves the chair’s ability to manage disruptive conduct with due process.
The Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections voted to adopt a written public-comment policy with edits to clarify the sign-up cutoff and define conduct that could be considered disruptive.
Legal counsel told the board the body operates as a limited public forum and may impose reasonable, content-neutral time, place and manner restrictions. Counsel recommended care in drafting prohibitions to avoid viewpoint-based limits, and emphasized due-process steps for dealing with disruptive speakers.
Board members debated whether sign-ups should close 5, 10 or 15 minutes before a meeting. Member Selby moved to adopt the policy with sign-ups allowed until 10 minutes before the meeting and with Fulton County residents given precedence; the motion was seconded and approved by voice vote. The transcript records at least one "nay" on the voice vote but does not provide a roll-call tally.
Members said the policy can be revised later and that staff should explore options for accommodating residents who cannot attend in person (including ADA considerations and potential Zoom options used by the Board of Commissioners). Legal counsel agreed to redraft examples of disruptive conduct to make the policy clearer and to confirm how Zoom/ADA accommodations could be implemented.
The policy was published with the agenda and staff said the board can revisit and edit the policy in future meetings.
