The Cobb County Board of Elections is once again showing us exactly how the system works—by ignoring state law and doing everything possible to block attempts to clean up their voter rolls. In August, the board tossed out 2,472 voter challenges brought by Eugene Williams, a concerned Cobb County resident, who was working with EagleAI, a Georgia-based software company. What was the crime? Trying to ensure that our voter rolls are accurate. But Cobb County clearly has other priorities.
Let’s be clear about what happened: Eugene Williams, armed with solid data, simply wanted to ensure that the people voting in Cobb County are actually supposed to be voting.
Seems reasonable, right?
But Cobb Elections Director Tate Fall decided that would cost too much. Fall claimed it would run taxpayers $1,600 to notify the voters who were being challenged—$1,600 to help secure an election. For a government that spent millions on unconstitutional “Home Rule” election maps, $1,600 suddenly became a big deal. Why? Because ensuring election integrity doesn’t seem to be high on their list of priorities.
In a 4-1 vote, the board—a board clearly tilted to protect the status quo—decided to impose fees on future voter challenges. And who was the lone dissenter? Republican-appointed board member Debbie Fisher. Fisher, unlike her colleagues, actually cares about whether our elections are secure. She pointed out that this policy, along with the board’s dismissal of challenges to the “inactive voter lists,” is not only wrong but flat-out illegal. And now, Fisher is welcoming an investigation by the State Election Board.
“I personally think Cobb County’s policies are breaking the law,” she said. She’s right, and she’s not alone. A lot of people are tired of watching election boards across this country do everything they can to resist cleaning up voter rolls. It’s as if they want these lists to stay bloated, inaccurate, and open to abuse.
But here’s where it gets even more infuriating: the board’s attorney, Daniel White, stepped in to defend this nonsense. His justification? Well, he compared charging to clean up voter rolls to the fees required to file lawsuits and serve court documents. That’s laughable, especially given that Cobb’s Superior courts are currently facing a judicial emergency because Cobb’s incompetent Superior Court Clerk, Connie Taylor is incapable of properly filing court documents, but that’s a whole other story. We’re not talking about personal lawsuits here; we’re talking about ensuring that our elections are free and fair. Apparently, Cobb County thinks you should have to pay for the privilege of ensuring that only eligible voters are on the rolls.
Then there’s the issue of inactive voters. Fisher rightly pointed out that the board’s policy of dismissing challenges to these lists is illegal, but White tried to deflect, claiming they’re following state law. This, of course, raises a much bigger question: if Cobb is really just “following the law,” why are so many people concerned that the voter rolls are being ignored? White’s answer is that the voters on the “inactive” list can remain there for two federal election cycles—just long enough to keep everything muddled for as long as possible. Convenient, right?
And as for transparency? Don’t hold your breath. Board Chair Tori Silas admitted the board hasn’t even received formal notice of the state investigation yet. Maybe they’re too busy stonewalling every attempt to clean up their voter lists to check the mail.
The truth is simple: Cobb County’s Board of Elections seems far more interested in protecting their own agenda than making sure their elections are actually secure. They don’t want mass voter challenges, and they certainly don’t want anyone looking too closely at the voter rolls. With less than 40 days until the election, they’ve ensured no more challenges will be heard, leaving voters wondering: who is really pulling the strings here?
While Cobb County deals with a so-called “deluge of rule changes” from the state, the rest of us are left to wonder what else they’re ignoring—or worse, what they’re deliberately turning a blind eye to. We’ve heard these excuses before. “It’s too expensive.” “We’re following the law.” But in reality, this is just another example of how the system works when the people in charge don’t want you to ask too many questions.
So now we wait for the State Election Board to do what Cobb County won’t—dig into this mess and find out exactly why Cobb’s elections board is working so hard to block efforts to keep our elections safe, fair, and accurate. Voters deserve answers, and they deserve a system they can trust—not one rigged to protect a broken status quo.
