Georgia Judge Rolls Back Order That Blocked Counties From Voter-Roll Clean Up
The federal judge who on Monday blocked two Georgia counties from removing voters from voter rolls eased her order just before midnight Wednesday.
District Court Judge Leslie Abrams Gardner, an Obama appointee, ruled that Ben Hill County still cannot remove any voters from voter rolls but said the Muscogee County Board of Elections and Registration can remove voters if they do not rely solely on the U.S. Postal Service’s National Change of Address system.
The board must allow voters whose eligibility has been challenged to cast a provisional ballot in the Jan. 5, 2021, runoff elections. They also must advise the voter of specific evidence of ineligibility by phone and in writing by Jan. 6, and advise the voter of their right to be heard and present evidence in response to the findings.
With a streamlined budgeting process, Montrose County overcame the challenges posed by COVID-19 to approve a total appropriation of $92.416 million for 2021.
The amount includes a $2 million TABOR emergency reserve. After expenditures, revenue and transfers to other funds, the ending fund balance is projected at about $49 million. (The county went into its budgeting process with a beginning fund balance of $53.3 million. The projected revenue sources are $85.6 million and uses are projected at $89.7 million. Subtracting the roughly $4.1 million difference between projected uses and revenue from the beginning fund balance leaves about $49.2 million for the ending fund balance.)
âOverall, the county is in good financial shape. Itâs kind of weathering this storm through COVID and everything else,â Montrose County Manager Ken Norris said Thursday, after the county commissioners approved the budget and set the mill levy for 2021. The final budget is now being sent to the