Policy Statement of the Cherokee County Republican Coalition, Inc.
on the Appointments for the Cherokee County Board of Elections
Over the past several days, there have been several rumors about the involvement of the Cherokee County Republican Coalition, Inc. in the appointment process for the new Board of Elections and Registration for Cherokee County established under Act 167 (“HB 642”). While some individual members of the Coalition may have spoken with their commissioners about this process, the Coalition as an organization has not been involved in these appointments and the Coalition has taken no official position regarding who the Board of Commissioners should appoint, as that is outside of the authority of the Coalition under HB 642, as the Coalition is not a political party.
HB 642 provides that the Cherokee County Board of Commissioners shall appoint two members from a list of five candidates provided by each of the Republican and Democrat Parties (such list to be approved by their respective executive committees) as those are the two parties receiving the most votes. HB 642 further provides that each of the current members of the Board of Elections for their respective parties shall be two of the five nominees on the initial lists provided by the political parties. Finally, HB 642 does give the Board of Commissioners the authority, after consideration of the list of nominations from the political parties, the option to reject all nominations and appoint any qualified voter to the board.
The Cherokee County Republican Coalition, Inc. believes that a foundational principal of our republic is the rule of law. The Coalition believes that HB 642 was a necessary piece of legislation to bring the Board of Elections and Registration for Cherokee County in compliance with the Georgia Constitution after the Delay v. Sutton (304 Ga. 338 (2018)) case, which provides that boards that “wield governmental power” must be appointed by governmental bodies that are ‘“accountable to the people”’ under the Georgia Constitution.
Accordingly, it the policy position of the Cherokee County Republican Coalition, Inc. that the Cherokee County Board of Commissioners, follow HB 642 by appointing two nominees from each of the lists of the political parties, from the lists as properly constituted under HB 642.