By Kate Brainerd

Accusations of willfully ignoring fraudulent voter rolls and disrespecting the American flag dominated the Cobb County Board of Elections and Registration meeting Tuesday April 14, when residents voiced their opinions at the public lectern.

Without evidence, three Cobb County residents said Georgia voter rolls were filled with illegally registered voters, accused the board of not properly maintaining voter records and questioned whether the board could prohibit public comment at special meetings.

“They have found millions of illegal aliens who came in under the Biden administration,” said Cobb County resident Pamela Reardon. “They were given access to Medicaid and Social Security. Therefore, they’ve got Social Security numbers, therefore they vote. I assure you there are lots of people who have voted illegally, I know personally people who vote illegally. Anyone can register to vote in less than five minutes.”

Cobb County Elections Director Tate Fall assured the crowd that the voter rolls are systematically verified using strict registration criteria and that the Georgia Secretary of State consistently purges people from the voting rolls because they are inactive and haven’t voted in the past two election cycles.

“It may take only a few minutes to register, as you say, but you are not automatically on the list,” Fall said. “Before an individual’s registration is approved, we go through several checks and balances. We check citizenship documentation through the Georgia Department of Driver Services, we check felon records, confirm age, and check probate records for anyone deemed mentally incompetent.”

The Board Chairwoman Tori Silas told the crowd that the board follows state and federal laws to maintain and keep the voter rolls accurate.

“Obviously there is a lot of attention on this issue. This year Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is purging an estimated 400,000 voters from the state voter roll,” Silas said. “Approximately 16,000 in Cobb County.”

Resident Mike Bins voiced support for the board. “I want to address this recurring theme of ineligible voters on the rolls which has been shown to be incorrect. It’s just not true. The reason it’s not true is because you are doing your job and you are cooperating with the state on voter roll maintenance. And when challenges occur you address them promptly and according to the rule of law not according to a someone’s personal opinion.”

Another resident, Hugh Norris, was critical of Vice Chairwoman Jennifer Mosbacher who remained seated as the four other board members stood and said the Pledge of Allegiance to open the meeting. Mosbacher did not say why she refuses to participate in the pledge.

“We witnessed Miss Mosbacher, who is the vice chair of this board, not say the Pledge of Allegiance,” Norris said. “I take loyalty to our nation very, very seriously and so surely you will understand that I have no respect for the leadership or majority of this board. No respect.”

“There have been a couple of mentions about the Pledge of Allegiance and how our first amendment rights allow us to criticize and use sharp language,” Bins said. “When someone becomes an elected or appointed official that does not mean they lose their first amendment rights. The 1943 U.S. Supreme Court case (West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette) determined there was no way to compel someone to salute the flag or recite the pledge.”

Further criticism came from resident Christine Rozman who questioned whether the board could refuse public comments at special meetings. “I just wanted to know if that kind of policy is in alignment with the Open Meetings Act?” Rozman said. “There have been several special meetings about the elections and nobody from the public was allowed to attend or speak.”

Chairwoman Silas asked Board Attorney Daniel White to address the question. “This board is fully within its legal rights to hold executive or special meetings which are not open to the public,” White said. “The two acts, Open Meetings Act and the Records Act, have been conflated in this public discussion. The Records Act doesn’t apply and there is no requirement in the Open Meetings Act to have public comment in any meeting. Public comments are something most city and county boards have decided to do in their regular meetings only.”

Board member Debbie Fisher, the only Republican on the board, sided with Rozman. “I agree with whoever it was that made a public statement about special meetings and having public speaking,” she said. “I don’t believe it’s proper for us to disallow public comments when a vote in a special meeting concerns an election. I have said this before, and I want to be consistent with everything I’ve said concerning giving the people of Cobb County the right to speak.”

Chairwoman Silas called the meeting to order. “After discussion, it is stated and confirmed that we will not allow public comment at our special call meetings. Does anyone have anything further?” she said. “OK, let’s move on.”

The board approved revisions made to the bylaws; reviewed a legislative update of House and Senate proposed legislation on campaign finance and other election issues; and discussed logistics for the upcoming election on April 29.

Kate Brainerd is a student at Kennesaw State University