Peach Tree Times

Richard Barron, the election director of Fulton County, remains in his position despite the board voting to remove him a day earlier.

After voting to remove Barron from his position, the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections sent their recommendation to the Board of Commissioners, which is the protocol. But the board voted three for and three against with Commissioner Natalie Hall, being the tie-breaker, abstaining. So the vote to remove Barron failed and the director still holds onto his position.

The motion to remove Barron came about after the election board members said they saw discrepancies in election procedures. They said that there were no custody forms being used when the ballots were being transferred from one room to another. They alleged that small details such as these, when overlooked, could lead to corrupted processes that could lead to inaccurate counting of the votes.

They added that the ballots that were being delivered to the State Farm Arena were being carried in “unsecured mail carts,” which could result in tampering. The board members also alleged that there were “technology issues” that occurred during the recounting process, in which a server even crashed. 

Despite the failure to remove Barron from his position, the board of members are still pursuing their agenda and they plan to take up the matter once more on March 3.