by Maya Homan, Georgia Recorder, [This article first appeared in the Georgia Recorder, republished with permission]

December 23, 2025

Georgia’s State Election Board will see at least one new member in 2026. 

Lt. Gov. Burt Jones appointed Salleigh Grubbs, a top Georgia GOP official and elections activist, to the panel. Her appointment is not expected to alter the partisan balance on the board, which has a strong Republican majority that has been aligned with President Donald Trump. 

Grubbs is the former head of the Cobb County Republican Party, and currently serves as the first vice chair of the Georgia Republican Party. 

“It was my pleasure to appoint Salleigh Grubbs to the State Election Board,” Jones said in a statement. “I have no doubt she will bring significant passion and expertise to overseeing Georgia’s elections.”

She will replace former state Sen. Rick Jeffares, who has served on the board since the start of 2024. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but the AJC reported that he was resigning for personal reasons.

Grubbs said Tuesday that she is grateful for the appointment.

“I look forward to serving in a bipartisan way to help the other members on the State Election Board and will serve with integrity and character,” she said in a statement.

The five-member State Election Board is tasked with overseeing cases involving potential violations of election laws and issuing guidance to help elections run more smoothly. However, in recent years members of the board have been accused of acting beyond their authority, including approving a series of last-minute election rule changes ahead of the 2024 general election that could have made it easier to delay certifying the results, and embarking on a yearslong endeavor to prove wrongdoing in the 2020 presidential election. That year, former President Joe Biden won in Georgia by nearly 12,000 votes.

In 2024, Grubbs was one of the key supporters of an election rule proposal allowing county election board members to request a virtually unlimited amount of records and documents relating to voting machines and vote tabulation before certifying the results of an election. She also advocated for a rule requiring election workers to hand-count ballots to ensure that the total number of ballots cast is not greater than the total number of voters who submitted ballots. Those changes were passed by the board but invalidated ahead of the 2024 election by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thomas A. Cox Jr.

The Georgia Supreme Court permanently struck down four of the rules in June, concluding that members of the board exceeded their authority in attempting to implement guidelines that went beyond the scope of Georgia’s election laws.

This year, Grubbs co-authored a failed proposal seeking to clarify the circumstances under which voters can switch to paper ballots rather than using ballot-marking devices. Opponents of the proposal worried that the rule would go beyond the scope of the board’s authority.

Grubbs also established a fundraising campaign earlier this year for the board’s vice chair, Janice Johnston, after she was sued by the watchdog nonprofit organization American Oversight for refusing to turn over her emails in response to an open records request. The campaign raised over $29,000, including one anonymous donation of $10,000, according to The Guardian. The webpage for the fundraiser has since been taken down, and the board later settled the lawsuit for $50,000.

Georgia GOP chair Josh McKoon celebrated Grubbs’ appointment.

“Salleigh Grubbs brings a strong record of leadership and a deep commitment to election integrity,” McKoon said in a statement. “Her experience and dedication to fair, transparent elections will serve Georgians well.”

The next State Election Board meeting is scheduled for Jan. 21.

Georgia Recorder is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Georgia Recorder maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jill Nolin for questions: info@georgiarecorder.com.