Adams v. Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections

Among other responsibilities, Georgia state law vests Fulton County’s Board of Registration and Elections (“Board”) with the responsibility of certifying its election results. Fulton County contains a large part of Atlanta and is Georgia’s most populous county, with over one million residents as of the 2020 Census, the majority of whom are people of color.

The Board consists of five members, with two nominated by the Democratic Party, two nominated by the Republican Party, and a chair selected by the Fulton County Board of Commissioners. Plaintiff Julie Adams was one of the Republican Party nominees.

Under Georgia law, the Board is tasked with certifying the election results no later than 5 p.m. on the Monday following the election being certified. State law also provides for procedures such as risk-limiting audits, procedural safeguards when counting ballots, and recounts, along with election contests in courts to prevent fraud or mistakes and to resolve disputes when they arise.

On March 12, 2024, Georgia held its presidential primary preference election, and on March 19, 2024, the Board certified the results in Fulton County. Ms. Adams voted against certifying the results.

Subsequently, on May 22, 2024, Ms. Adams filed a lawsuit in the Superior Court of Fulton County, requesting a court order stating that the duties of the Board members to certify the results were discretionary and granting more access to records and information from the director of elections. In her complaint, Ms. Adams alleged that she was unable to fulfill her statutory duty because the director of elections, who is delegated the day-to-day administration of elections in Fulton County, and the Chair of the Board denied her certain information to verify the results of elections after she was not satisfied with the information already provided.

On July 29, 2024, the League of Women Voters of Georgia (“LWV Georgia”), the League of Women Voters of Atlanta-Fulton County (“LWV Atlanta-Fulton County”), the Georgia State Conference of the NAACP (“Georgia NAACP”), and the Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda, Inc. (GCPA) filed an amicus brief supporting the Board. The brief pointed out that over a century of precedent, in Georgia and other states, stated that certification of elections was a mandatory duty and not subject to the discretion of election officials. The amici also pointed out that granting Ms. Adams relief would place the fate of hundreds of thousands of votes into the hands of a few election officials, leading to potential disenfranchisement, including of previously disenfranchised groups, such as voters of color.

On September 9, 2024, the court dismissed the case, ruling that Ms. Adams had failed to name the proper defendant under the Georgia state constitution.

LWV Georgia and LWV Atlanta-Fulton County were represented in this matter by Krevolin & Horst, LLC, the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, the Protect Democracy Project, and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.