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Two different state Senate Committees have scheduled meetings for Thursday to look into the state’s elections process and review Georgia’s election laws, following allegations of voter fraud and irregularities in the November 3 General Election. The Senate Government Oversights Committee will meet at 9:30 a.m. and the Senate Judiciary Sub-Committee will meet at 1 p.m.

“We are convening the committee to study Georgia’s election laws, and their past and present impact on the current election cycle,” said Senator William Ligon (R-Brunswick), current Sub-Committee Chairman. “There have been a lot of complaints and allegations of irregularities and fraud in this most recent election and it is our obligations as state legislators to look into these allegations and recommend any changes that need to be made to secure the vote.

“We must ensure that every legal vote cast in Georgia counts.”

Ligon said the subcommittee plans to hear testimony from a number of witnesses, but no vote will be taken.

This hearing will follow an earlier morning meeting of the Senate Oversight Committee, which is chaired by Senator Bill Heath (R-Bremen).

This committee is expected to hear from representatives from the Secretary of State’s Office, the Fulton County Election Board, the Muscogee County Election Board, and the DeKalb County Election Board.

The meeting announcement from Heath states that, “Over the last few elections, there has been concerns expressed about how elections are conducted in Georgia. We will hear how the election process went and take suggestions on what can be done to improve the process and confidence in how the election is conducted. Anyone with firsthand knowledge of problems with the election or fraudulent activity relative to the election may submit sworn written statements of fact. A notary will be present to notarize written statements.”

Both meetings will be held in Room 450 of the Capitol.

Tuesday afternoon, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and the Spalding County legislative delegation of Sen. Marty Harbin (R-Tyrone), Rep. David Knight (R-Griffin), and Rep. Karen

Mathiak (R-Griffin) called for the resignation or termination of Spalding County Elections Supervisor Marcia Ridley following “serious management issues and poor decision-making during the November 3 general election.

Information from Raffensperger’s office stated that “In Spalding County, however, voters faced mismanagement and poor decision-making that put the integrity of their vote at risk. Spalding County faced issues early in the morning getting their voting systems up and running on Election Day. If voting machines are not operating normally, county elections superintendents have been trained to use a number of workarounds to allow voters to cast ballots using the Ballot Marking Devices like all other voters. Additionally, if that is impossible, which was not the case in Spalding County, Georgia law instructs county elections superintendents to conduct voting in those locations on emergency ballots, which are scanned immediately like other ballots cast in person on Election Day.”