The Georgia Court of Appeals overturned a trial court's ruling forcing the Fulton County Board of Commissioners to accept two Republican Party nominees for the county election board in a ruling issued Friday, March 20, 2026.
The Democrat commissioners rejected two Republican Party appointees — incumbent board member Julie Adams and Jason Frazier — to the county election board in May, citing past actions they found concerning.
Adams refused to certify Fulton County's 2024 presidential preference primary results, and filed an unsuccessful lawsuit against the county. She also questioned the 2020 presidential election results.
Statement from Julie Adams:
"The DOJ wrote to Fulton County in August of last year, asking for the ballots. DOJ wrote another letter in October asking again for the 2020 ballots and other records. Two weeks ago, the FBI delivered a third letter. But the majority of the Fulton…
— Fulton County (GA) Republican Party (@FultonCo_GA_GOP) January 29, 2026
Frazier has a history of challenging Fulton County voter registrations.
The county's Republican Party subsequently filed a lawsuit arguing the board must approve the two candidates.
Georgia law says the commissioners "shall" appoint two members appointed by each major party. The Republicans argued this means the board should approve the nominees as long as they meet the basic requirements like living in the county.
The Democrats argued the word "shall" leaves some wiggle room for the board to reject candidates they don't consider fit.
The trial court said the commissioners do not have the power to reject otherwise qualified candidates to the board, and ordered them to approve the two candidates. When they didn't take any further action on the approval, the Republican Party filed a motion to hold the commissioners in contempt.
In August, a superior court judge in the County sided with the Republicans and held the commissioners in civil contempt of court and ordered a $10,000 fine per day until the board approved the candidates. However, the commissioners appealed the decision, with a decision in favor of the board of commissioners being made Friday, overturning the superior court judge's ruling.
Commissioner Dana Barrett, who is running for secretary of state, said she couldn't be any more excited about the decision in a video posted to her Instagram account.
"When we fight back, we win, and that's exactly what happened," she said.
View this post on Instagram
In its ruling Friday the court said the commissioners "were exercising their constitutional prerogative to exercise their judgment as to these appointments on behalf of the people who elected them," by rejecting the appointments, according to the ruling.
Frazier said the ruling will essentially push Republicans out of Fulton County in a post to X, formerly Twitter.
🚨Fulton County Board of Elections Update🚨
GA Court of Appeals just overturned the trial court's ruling.
If this holds, the Dems on the Fulton County Board of Commissioners can essentially pick their Dem Board of Elections Members, The Chair AND THE REPUBLICANS!!!!!!!!
Entire… pic.twitter.com/kzNzznz70z
— Jason Frazier 🇺🇲 (@JasonFrazierUSA) March 20, 2026
