Suit: Fulton County Violates Law By Failing To Maintain Voter Rolls

Fulton County, Georgia, is allegedly not maintaining its voter rolls, according to a recently filed in federal court.

The suit, brought by Fulton County residents Jason Frazier and Earl Ferguson against Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger and members of the Fulton County Department of Registrations and Elections (FCDRE), alleges that “Fulton County does not maintain, nor does it even attempt to maintain, accurate voter rolls.”

The suit cites, in part, testimony from Atlanta city attorney Patrise Perkins-Hooker who said last November that “Fulton County never does an independent search for anybody; dead people, felons, people who live out of state.”

Perkins-Hooker said the Secretary of State’s office sends Fulton County a list of potentially ineligible voters who are then notified by the county about such allegations.

“We don’t have the right, to remove anybody’s privilege to vote without a hearing,” Perkins-Hooker said. “We are not, on our own, initiating any investigation of our voting rolls to remove anybody.”

But the suit argues that Fulton County is obligated to maintain clean and accurate voting rolls, citing state law which says “the board of registrars of each county or municipality shall have the right and shall be charged with the duty of examining from time to time the qualifications of each elector … .” The National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), also requires states to “conduct a general program that makes a reasonable effort to remove the names of ineligible voters from the official lists of eligible voters.”

Frazier, “in light of FCDRE’s open admission to not maintaining accurate voter rolls,” submitted a voter roll challenge on Aug. 4 “to contest the continued inclusion of certain electors who are no longer eligible to vote in Fulton County,” according to the suit. State law stipulates that Frazier should receive notice of a hearing within 10 business days of the complaint being received, the suit notes. But Frazier claims that, “as of the date of [the suit] filing, the FCDRE continues to violate its obligation to respond.”

Frazier has previously highlighted alleged list maintenance issues, such as voters who are registered at commercial addresses or “imaginary houses,” along with dead people on the rolls.

The suit also alleges that Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger “has falsely advised and/or instructed that federal law (NVRA) prohibits county election officials in Fulton County and throughout Georgia’s remaining 158 other counties from removing voters within 90 days of a federal election if the ineligible voters identified by a 229(a) challenge were found to be ineligible based upon a challenger’s use of a program.”

“But this is not what the NVRA says… ,” the suit contends.

The NVRA says that states “shall complete, not later than 90 days prior to the date of a primary or general election for Federal office, any program the purpose of which is to systematically remove the names of ineligible voters from the official lists of eligible voters.” But the suit contends that the federal statute regarding the challenging of ineligible voters via systematic list maintenance does not apply to 229(a) voter challenges, which permit anyone in the county (like Frazier) to challenge a voter’s eligibility, “even within the 90-day window,” according to the suit.

“The NVRA provision that prohibits the FCDRE from using a Fulton County-operated program that has a purpose to ‘systematically remove the names of ineligible voters’ from its voter rolls within the last 90 days before a federal election does not prohibit the FCDRE  from removing ineligible voters identified by a voter challenge submitted by a Fulton County eligible elector,” the suit claims.

“This misapplication of the NVRA’s 90-day prohibition has resulted in the rejection and refusal to review or otherwise remove tens, if not hundreds of thousands of ineligible voters that remain on Fulton County’s voter roll directly and proximately as a result of the FCDRE’s violations of federal law … ,” the suit alleges.

“[T]he FCDRE adopted this unlawful regulation and non-existent basis for the rejection of otherwise lawfully submitted challenges directly and proximately as a result of its communications with Secretary Raffensperger and the statements, conveyances, and representations, made by him and the Office of Secretary of State,” the suit alleges.

The suit seeks, in part, a “Writ of Mandamus” that would force the defendant parties to “comply” with what Frazier and Ferguson argue are their statutory “obligations.”

Neither Secretary of State Raffensperger nor Fulton County Department of Registration and Elections members Sherri Allen, Aaron Johnson, Michael Heekin, and Teresa K. Crawford did not return a request for comment before the time of publication. Kathryn Glenn, the registration manager of the FCDRE listed as another defendant in the suit, also did not return a request for comment.

The suit states the defendants “violated the express, non-discretionary duty imposed under the NVRA that requires Fulton County to” maintain accurate voter rolls.

Brianna Lyman is an elections correspondent at The Federalist. Brianna graduated from Fordham University with a degree in International Political Economy. Her work has been featured on Newsmax, Fox News, Fox Business and RealClearPolitics. Follow Brianna on X: @briannalyman2