The Athens-Clarke County Board of Elections on Monday rejected an effort by the chairman of the Clarke County Republican Party to challenge the eligibility of thousands of voters in the Jan. 5 U.S. Senate runoff.
The original document that targeted 16,024 voters was amended Dec. 18 by local GOP Chairman Gordon Rhoden to challenge 4,943 Clarke voters eligibility in the runoff. Rhoden alleged these voters had moved their residency outside the county.
At the advice of Judd Drake, the attorney representing the elections board, a motion to reject the challenge carried without opposition at a Monday meeting, although board member Patricia Till, a Republican Party appointee, abstained.
Clarke County GOP challenges eligibility of voters in Athens
The chairman of the Clarke County Republican Party has challenged the eligibility of 16,024 Athens voters in the Nov. 3 general election, according to the Athens-Clarke County Board of Elections.
As a result, the elections board has called a meeting for 4:30 p.m. Monday at the elections office to consider the challenge. The meeting of the five-member board, chaired by Jesse Evans, will be available online for public viewing.
The papers from the GOP were signed by party Chairman Gordon Rhoden, who could not be reached for comment Friday afternoon.
The document purports that these registered voters live out of state, and that the information was obtained from the National Change of Address Registry. Rhoden told the board he has evidence those thousands of voters reside outside the state.