Stephens County Issued Consent Order by State

Following inquiries to the Georgia Secretary of State’s Election Division, WNEG News has received a copy of a consent order between the State and the Stephens County Election Office regarding cases relating to the 2020 elections in Stephens County. The Consent Order was signed by the State Election Board on Dec. 19, 2023. 

In the Consent Order, it is stated that in three cases, or complaints against the Stephens County Elections Office, the “State Election Board found evidence of potential violations by former Stephens County Chief Registrar Eureka Gober.”  

The Consent order specifies that Stephens County, “denies any willful misconduct, but desires the the above captioned cases be resolved in their entirety as to itself and former Chief Registrar Eureka Gober in order to avoid further litigation … and to allow Stephens County to move forward under a newly re-established Board and elections Supervisor. 

It is further stated that the Stephens County Board of Elections and Registration “enters into this consent order to resolves the above referenced cases to resolve complaints and allegations made in those cases that the respondents maintain arose due to the conduct of Ms. Gober and/or prior elections staff or officials.”

The order states that the Secretary of State’s Office investigated numerous complaints it received concerning issues with the administration of in 2020 elections and runoff elections in early 2021 in the county and the Board of Elections acknowledges that, if the cases were to go to an administrative hearing, the State Board of Elections would be able to establish those violations did occur, based on the conduct of Gober. 

Included in the complaints addressed by the consent order were improper signage on the official absentee ballot drop box, failure to post notice of the location of the drop box at the election office, failure to create and maintain “opening of the polls” and “closing of the polls” records as required by state law, failure to file required voting records and recaps in a timely fashion, failure to properly train poll workers, failure to timely process absentee ballot applications and failure to secure an absentee ballot after it was recorded. In addition, in three instances, it was shown that two individuals voted one by absentee ballot and once in person, and a third individual voted twice in person.

WNEG News, in tomorrow’s news cycle, will provide in-depth reporting on the consent order, including a full review of the state’s investigation, information on the specifics of the Order in financial terms and directives for future operations, if any, and interviews with county officials.