M ay 1 9 , 2 0 2 2 | A p p e n M e d i a . c o m | A n A p p e n M e d i a G r o u p P u b l i c a t i o n | 5 0 ¢ | Vo l u m e 2 5 , N o . 1
Forsyth County acts to suspend COVID decree By JAKE DRUKMAN jake@appenmedia.com
JAKE DRUKMAN/APPEN MEDIA
The Forsyth County Board of Voter Registrations and Elections discusses challenges to voter registrations in the County Commission chamber May 12. The board moved outside the county’s elections office, which is being used for early voting for the May 24 primary.
Elections board voids challenge County votes down campaign to annul voter registrations
FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. — The Forsyth County Board of Voter Registrations and Elections voted May 12 to dismiss challenges against the registration of 12,880 county voters.
Frank Schneider, who filed the challenge on May 9, had initially challenged 13,609 voters, but he revised the figure before the board meeting to remove names of voters he had previously contested. Since March, Schneider has challenged the registration of 1,200 other county voters. His May 9 challenge alleged that the 12,880 voters had changed their address to a location they were not registered to vote at. He said he checked the county’s voter rolls and compared them with the National Change of Ad-
dress registry. When the massive challenge came up for discussion, Anita Tucker, a Democrat appointee to the board, motioned for the dismissal on the grounds that information from the Change of Address database was not sufficient to challenge residents’ registrations. She also cited the close proximity of the May 24 primary elections as a reason. Carla Radzikinas, a Republican appointee to the board, seconded Tuck-
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By JAKE DRUKMAN jake@appenmedia.com
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FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. — The Forsyth County Commission voted unanimously May 11 to terminate a county resolution that declared a local emergency due to the pandemic. The resolution had been in place since March 2020 and had to be renewed and modified multiple times since. The emergency resolution allowed special privileges for businesses, such as the ability for restaurants to sell alcohol to-go. It also allowed alcohol vendors to sell without a permit, though this privilege expired well before Tuesday’s decision. County attorney Ken Jarrard noted that to-go alcohol sales were the last effective provision of the emergency resolution, and that the state passed a bill last year making to-go alcohol sales permanently legal, rendering the resolution useless. The resolution also allowed the county to hold its meetings virtually. Jarrard said the county would not be able to undertake fully virtual meetings after the resolution terminates, barring another emergency. He said
See PANDEMIC, Page 3