Oconee State Legislators Give Selves Control Over Local Elections

Sen. Bill Cowsert, Rep. Houston Gaines, and Rep. Marcus Wiedower, who represent Oconee County in the Georgia General Assembly, joined their Republican colleagues last week in voting to pass legislation making major changes to the state’s election laws.

The bill restricts absentee voting, alters how local governments can manage early voting, and gives the legislature itself, through the State Elections Board, much more power over local election procedures.

It also authorizes the three legislators to monitor and request a state audit of Oconee County’s and Clarke County’s election operations.

Senate Bill 202, called the Election Integrity Act of 2021, on Thursday passed the House at 12:51 p.m. and the Senate at 5:25 p.m., and was signed by Gov. Brian Kemp shortly after the Senate vote. That same day, it was challenged in federal court as discriminatory.

The Bill argues in a preamble that it is a response to “a significant lack of confidence in Georgia election systems” on the part of voters and the “stress of the elections, with a dramatic increase in absentee-by-mail ballots.”

Not a single Democrat voted in favor of the bill, which passed 100 to 75 in the House and 34 to 20 in the Senate.

In an unrelated, local development, the Watkinsville Council voted 4 to 0 on Thursday evening to make Brian Brodrick Acting Mayor following the abrupt resignation of Bob Smith as mayor on March 17.

Brodrick stepped down as Post 1 Council member, and the Council passed a resolution calling for a special election on June 15 to select individuals to finish out the terms of mayor and of Council Post 1, which expire at the end of this year.

For more on this story, please go to Oconee County Observations.