Ineligible voters on Tybee Island voter roll? State officials to review challenge
A group of concerned residents challenged the Tybee Island voter roll in a letter to the Georgia Secretary of State's Office two months after the November 2021 election. Now, a hearing will be held at the State Election Board's regular meeting at 8:30 a.m. on Dec. 19 in Atlanta after an investigation by the Secretary of State's Office into their concerns.
They alleged that the list of registered voters on the island was too large to be true and they believed that people who appeared to not live on Tybee full-time as their permanent residence were still voting in elections, a right many believe should be reserved for full-time residents only.
An investigation got underway by in March 2022, and while no such accusations have been raised again in the aftermath of the Nov. 7 election this year, the issue will finally have a resolution, at least for now.
More: Tybee Island continues effort to clean voter rolls; 27 names deemed ineligible
More: Tybee residents challenge island's voter rolls. Georgia Secretary of State investigating.
The letter, which was signed by Mack Kitchens, who previously ran for mayor of Tybee, and, John McMasters, a former Chatham County commissioner, noted they had two main areas of concern: irregular voting on Nov. 2, 2021 and an excessively large voter list. They noted that information received through open records request suggested that Clerk of Council Jan Leviner may not have been carefully maintaining the voter list.
Voter registration list maintenance is the process election officals use to maintain accurate and up-to-date voter lists. Removing ineligible voters from that list is a job that city clerks happens at a local and state level, according to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.
The Chatham County Board of Registrars conducts a cleaning of the roll before municipal elections. A registered voter can submit challenges to the registrars at their monthly board meetings of other voters' eligibility to cast votes on election day.
Clerks and registrars can remove voters from the rolls for a number of reasons like dying, serving out a felony sentence, or not having had contact with election officials for around nine years.
Chatham County Board of Registrars Chairperson Colin McRae said in a letter to the City of Tybee Island at-large that "Ms. Leviner has shown great persistence and professionalism in her pursuit of ensuring an accurate voter roll for Tybee Island."
As recently as July 2023, the last time the registrars updated their meeting minutes, the city has been working to verify the city's voter roll, with six challenges to Tybee Island residents.
The residents, in the letter from the residents, supplied a list of 120 voters out of the 700 they audited (1,300 voted in that election) were "irregular" or people who did not live on the island but had just voted in the 2021 councilmembers. Brian West, who was just voted mayor, was among the three voted in that year.
In June 2022, after Leviner and Kenneth Williams — who no longer lives on the island — challenged the residency of some islanders, the Chatham County Board of Registrars ruled that a total of 27 registered voters on the island likely do not live there as their primary residence and would have to prove their residency when voting in future elections.
At the meeting, investigators will present findings of their investigation, and whether or not they believe a violation has occurred, however the board has sole discretion over whether or not there was a violation of state election law or State Election Board Rules.
If the board finds there was no violation, the complaint will be dismissed. Punishment for election crimes in Georgia are fines, jail time, or both by discretion of a trial court.
The meeting will be livestreamed on their website.
Destini Ambus is the general assignment reporter for Chatham County municipalities for the Savannah Morning News. You can reach her at dambus@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: State Board of Elections to hold hearing for Tybee Island voter roll
