The Columbia County Board of Elections received updates on several items during the meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 19.
One of those items was EagleAI, with board member Larry Wiggins stating it was a good demonstration with approximately 50 people in attendance. He said the program is interesting and looks like it could be helpful.
“I think it would, if it ever gets to the point where it’s launched and we can subscribe to it, and there’s some hoops to jump through to do that, it appears it would shorten the time it takes our staff to research questionable voters,” Wiggins said. “Some of the public concerns were does it change anything, well no it’s a tool, it doesn’t change anything. It’s not a decision maker.”
Executive Director Nancy Gay told board members the state election board has sent the Board of Elections a letter and she asked the county attorney to draft a response. She added that if the board decides to use the program, a courtesy letter should be sent to the state board to let them know the county attorney has addressed any legal issues with the program. Gay added she is hopeful to have something for the board to consider at the meeting next month.
Gay told board members that another person, Rickey Meridith has filed a declaration of intent to run for the Columbia County Board of Commissioners District 3 seat. Others who have filed DOI’s for local elections include Michael Carraway, also for District 3 county commission, and Phil Kent, for District 1 school board.
Gay also provided an update on the upcoming elections for the cities of Grovetown and Harlem. The Harlem election has been canceled due to the incumbents being the only two to file for office. The Grovetown mayor election had three people file to run and for the two city council seats, three people also filed.
Stephanie Hill is the managing editor and covers Columbia County government for The Augusta Press. Reach her at stephanie@theaugustapress.com.
