Banks County Line Inaccurate, Says Gasaway

Republican candidate for the State House District 28 Representative Dan Gasaway is calling on Banks County to resurvey their County lines.

Recently Gasaway hired an independent surveyor to find out exactly where the Banks/Franklin County line is located.  The issue came up during the January hearing when Gasaway charged in his lawsuit that property belonging to Banks County Sheriff Carlton Speed sits both in Franklin and Banks counties, but that the Sheriff’s home is on the Franklin County side.

On Thursday, he said the results of that survey show the county line is not where the current Banks County government claims it is.

“What the survey found is what we already knew is true and that is that a certain group of voters is voting in Banks County that do not live in Banks County, ” he said. “Unfortunately, we did not have that survey ready for our court case so we relied on the census line that the State of Georgia recognizes as the Banks County line. So, the Judge said becuase there was a conflict between what Banks County said was the line and what the State of Georgia said was the line, he couldn’t make a decision. So, he left it status quo.  However, now we have the certified document that shows that actually the real line is a completely different line. It’s not the line Banks County recognizes and it’s not the line that the State of Georgia recognizes.”

In an interview with Gasaway last Saturday, he said the original line was drawn in 1858 when the County was established, and his surveyor was able to find the markers.

“The County was described in a statute in 1858. And this (Franklin County/Banks County) section is from the Kessler’s Bridge to the 10-mile post on the Carnesville-Gainesville Road, which was a wagon road at the time. Well, I have located the ruins of the Kessler Bridge, it’s still there, and I got permission to go on the property and we did GPS coordinates at the ruins of the Kessler Bridge within two centimeters of accuracy,” Gasaway explained.

Gasaway said Thursday he has not filed a copy of his surveyor’s findings with Banks County, but is calling on their surveyor to do his own legwork.

“They have a county surveyor and the best thing for the Banks County government to do is to have their surveyor prepare a survey, which would take about a day, and then decide whether they agree with my findings or not, but I would like to see their County Surveryor do it because he is elected to do this job,” he said.

Gasaway said however, he is considering filing a plat with the Banks County.

Meantime, Wednesday at 5p was the deadline to turn in any discrepancies either he or his challenger Chris Erwin found in the three voter lists for the April election.

Gasaway said his team found numerous errors, including people who have died that are still on voter rolls.

“We turned in the voter rolls Wednesday and we challenged a lot of the voters. We also challenged a lot of people who have been deceased for a lot of years that are still on the roll, and I don’t think that’s appropriate. I think that’s another point that I’m highlighting for these voter rolls to be right. We don’t want anybody who’s been dead for five or six years (to have their names used) to still be voting in elections in Georgia,” he concluded.

On Monday, Erwin’s attorney Bryan Tyson told WNEG News they were satisfied with the voter rolls as is and did not expect to file any objections.

We checked again on Thursday with Erwin and so far have not heard back.