The Columbia County Board of Elections received an update on House Bill 730 and other items during its meeting on Tuesday, May 16.
Elections Director Nancy Gay told board members that with Gov. Brian Kemp signing the bill on May 1, she was told the next steps would be for the chairman’s position to go before a committee on June 13 and then the Board of Commissioners on June 20. The chairman position, which is currently held by Ann Cushman, is the only one up for reappointment and the new term would begin July 1 and be for four years.
“I am told that they are going to just reappoint you (Cushman) if you so like, so nothing is to change, at least the next few years unless ya’ll decide to change it,” Gay said.
Gay also gave an update on the precinct changes that were being considered. There have been discussions about combining precincts or moving them to new locations due to growth in the area. Nothing had been finalized, but Gay said she would like to have something concrete by next month. That way, new precinct cards can be sent to those affected. There was also talk about holding a town hall to address the changes, but that wouldn’t happen until the end of the year.
Board members were also informed about Senate Bill 129, which has to do with primaries and elections, voting reporting time and audits of elections.
“It changes the wording on the absentee application where third party distributors now must disclose their name and address, so the absentee form will now need to be updated,” Gay said. “That’s a state issue. Section four of the bill changes election night reporting. We used to have to do that report at 10 p.m. every election night, now they’ve moved it to 11:59 p.m. Then, the biggest one…is going to require an audit after every election that has a statewide or federal candidate on it, every election.”
Gay then told board members that she personally would like to maintain that 10 p.m. deadline just so they aren’t rushing on election night. As for the audit, Gay wasn’t too worried because, while it’s a lot of prep work, but they are doable.
“It’s not bad, just the hardest part is because you don’t know going into it how big of a scale you’re going to have to go through as far as how many ballots,” Gay said.
The next Columbia County Board of Elections meeting is scheduled for June 20 at 10:30 a.m. at the Board of Elections office.
Stephanie Hill is a staff writer covering Columbia County government for The Augusta Press. Reach her at stephanie@theaugustapress.com.
