Earlier this month, a car crashed through the Chatham County Election Board headquarters, shattering plate glass windows and destroying office chairs and desks.
Since the 2020 elections, the board’s offices on Eisenhower Drive have been targeted by protesters, and the once drowsy monthly meetings of the county’s election board have frequently become fraught with anger and frustration, as residents line up to voice their opposition to the state’s voting system.
As it turned out, the damage to the election offices was not the outcome of rage spilling over into violence. It was caused instead by an unlicensed teenager who was practicing with a parent how to drive in the election board parking lot and lost control of the vehicle.
But Billy Wooten, Chatham County’s supervisor of elections, said the fact it was a mishap doesn’t mean his worries have gone away.
“It was an accident and luckily, no one was hurt,” said Wooten. “But it also was a reminder to me and my staff that we have to be vigilant.”
As campaigns for this November’s elections heat up, so are challenges in the court and the state legislature to the accuracy and reliability of Georgia’s voting system, as well as to those who, like Wooten and his staff, are determined to conduct free and fair elections.
Last week, another bill targeting the state’s voting system was introduced in Atlanta.
A deputy stands next to a door at the counting area for the Chatham County Board of Elections following the November 2020 General Election. Credit: Laura Corley/The Current 
Trump supporters rally outside the Chatham County Board of Elections annex where workers were counting votes. (Laura Corley/The Current) 
A poll watcher, designated by the yellow badges, interacts with a Chatham County elections worker during the state ballot audit in November 2020. Credit: Laura Corley/The Current 
Trump supporters rally outside the Chatham County Board of Elections annex where workers were counting votes. (Laura Corley/The Current)
Coastal Georgia lawmakers John LaHood (R-Valdosta) and James Burchett (R-Waycross), along with four other representatives, introduced legislation that would require Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger to create a statewide program to display ballot images for 24 months after each election.
And in a further boost to election system skeptics, the State Election Board is scheduled today to take up a proposal to ban “no excuse” absentee voting. Georgia voters have been permitted to vote by mail without an excuse since 2006.
While such balloting was “helpful” during the pandemic, “even during that period, voting was chaotic and untrustworthy,” a draft of the proposal says.
Approval of either measure is uncertain.
Meanwhile, back in Chatham County, the teenager who caused the damage on a Saturday was cited by police. Wooten says no critical infrastructure was destroyed.
Election Board Chairman Thomas Mahoney, meanwhile, says the whole incident at the election board office should act as a wakeup call.
“We are indeed fortunate that none of our staff were working at the time of the incident,” he said.
