ATLANTA — Fulton County now has a new election board chairman. The board of commissioners approved Cathy Woolard for the position Wednesday evening.
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger was previously against Woolard, saying she was "too partisan."
"I think she’s bringing an awful lot of bias to the process," Raffensperger told 11Alive News in an interview before the board voted. "I think this is just politicizing this election board needlessly."
When asked if he merely disagreed with her politics, Raffensperger said, "it’s one thing to have your political leanings. It’s another to be a paid person for Fair Fight, an activist organization that has sued the state multiple times.
He dismissed a question asking if he was equally biased and should step aside from running the state's election as secretary of state.
Raffensperger previously called for the firing of Fulton County's previous election director, Rick Barron, and the county's registration chief Ralph Jones.
Fulton County has been a very Democratic-leaning electorate. So, it makes sense why it would choose a very Democratic-leaning politician to lead its election board into some very contentious statewide elections next year.
Woolard ran for mayor of Atlanta four years ago. She has lobbied at the State Capitol for left-leaning groups, including Fair Fight Action, the voting rights group founded by Democrat Stacey Abrams.
Raffensperger said the appointment of Woolard to lead Fulton’s election board could nudge the Republican-led state election board to replace all of Fulton county’s board members under an election reform bill signed into law this year that allows exactly that.
11Alive is working to reach out Woolard about the vote.