The Columbia County Board of Elections discussed a proposed election document destruction policy.
Nancy Gay, executive director of the Columbia County Board of Elections, told board members that with how much election information the county has with the Dominion Voting equipment, she believes a formal policy is needed regarding the destruction of election records.
“I also want to create some kind of form the state needs to sign off, not necessary the state sign off, but we contact the state to get clearance that yes, that election doesn’t have any outstanding lawsuits or anything,” Gay said. “Then something for the county attorney to sign off, too,0 before the destruction of the documents. The clerk of court is full over there of our containers of election records and ballots…in order to do it they’ll also have to go through a grand jury. I’m going to work with the clerk of court and let the clerk of court handle that aspect. Once we release it and approve it for destruction, let them finalize it.”
Board members will review the policy and possibly vote on it at the next meeting.
Gay also told board members that the upcoming precinct changes, which were voted on last month, will become effective on Aug. 23.
“We ran the ad on July 23, so we have to wait until Aug. 23 to make those official,” Gay said. “I’ve only gotten one complaint in regards to it, and the complaint was the fact that the citizen has lived in the county for 13 years and this is his fifth precinct change. But he lives out in the Grovetown Ivy Falls area where all the growth is…that was the only complaint I had or anything I’ve gotten in regards to our precinct changes.”
Qualifying for the Grovetown and Harlem elections will take place next week. For Harlem, qualifying for the two council positions will be Aug. 21-23 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Harlem City Hall.
For Grovetown, qualifying will take place from Aug. 21-24 from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Grovetown City Hall. There will be two council seats and the mayor seat up for election. Several people have indicated their plans to qualify for mayor, including current mayor Gary Jones, Council Member Ceretta Smith and Council Member Deborah Fisher. Fisher recently stepped down from her position on the city council so she could run for mayor. Another election will have to be held at a later date to fill her spot.
Approved was the purchase of equipment and supplies for approximately $274,000. These purchases are in the budget for the election office, Gay said. She also told board members that declarations of intents have been filed by Michael W. Carraway to run for Columbia County Commission, District 3, and Philip A. Kent, Jr. to run for Columbia County Board of Education, District 1, in 2024.
There were several citizens’ comments voicing concerns with the Dominion Voting equipment and questioning the security of it. One citizen said Columbia County needs to go back to paper ballots, which other places still uses, and the counting processing can be done in a transparent manner, which includes being livestreamed.
“It will restore accountability, transparency and integrity to our elections,” the citizen said. “So, I ask you to be brave, to honor your oath, the one that you took, didn’t you and return us to hand marked paper ballots.”
Board Member Larry Wiggins said the board does not have any authority to switch over to paper ballots unless there is certain emergency situation. It was added the only way that would be changed would be if the state legislature made a change, so the citizens should reach out to their legislative delegation.
The next Columbia County Board of Elections meeting is Tuesday, Sept. 19 at 10:30 a.m. at the Board of Elections office.
Stephanie Hill is the managing editor and covers Columbia County government for The Augusta Press. Reach her at stephanie@theaugustapress.com.
