Stephens County GOP petitioning for fair and transparent election processes in Stephens County

The Stephens County Republican Party is heading up a petition to allow Stephens County residents to express their concerns regarding elections in Stephens County.

According to Stephens County GOP Chairwoman Rebeckah Bennett the hope is the petition will show the leaders in Stephens County that their constituents are asking for action regarding fair and transparent election processes.

“As a party, monitoring and seeing where processes and procedures are falling apart, we sent a complaint to the Secretary of State’s off that has since been questioned and tossed around and voters just continue to call the party and ask ‘How do I make my voice heard, it’s really frustrating to get to an election of this magnitude and not have received my absentee ballot or to have received my absentee ballot the day of or the day before the election time frame and not be able to return it.” So, the questions that we’ve been fielding as a party: ‘How do I engage?’ ‘How do I let my voice be known?’ ‘Who do I express to that I’m upset?’ Of course, in my communication with the board members, I’m being advised that the board members of the Elections Office are fielding much of the same questions and concerns,” Bennett said. “It was introduced in our meeting on Thursday, August 20, that we would be doing something that would allow voters not just to express it in the paper or to the media locally, but to actually be able to put an action behind that concern.”

Bennett says the petition is part of a two-fold process.

“The petition will be sent to the County Commissioners and the Board Members (Board of Elections), so they know who, how many and the numbers, we’re not just talking abstract information with people being upset, they’ll actually have a representation of who those people are and how many of them and those type of statistics. But then secondly, that petition will be sent to the Secretary of State’s Office as continuing documentation to the investigation from the three complaints that the party has filed since the March process with elections began,” she said.

She says anyone wishing to sign the petition can find it online or they can sign the paper copy during one of the Stephens County GOP sponsored events.

“I have a printed copy and we will have two watch parties, locally, in Stephens County, at Juniors Restaurant, so we’ll have a printed copy they can come sign if they’re there that night at the Watch Party or taking part in the event that we’re doing in town,” she said. “And also, there is a link on our Facebook Page, our Twitter Page, our Instagram Page, and in another week, it’ll be on our website when it goes up as well.”

To sign the online petition visit change.org and search “Voting Integrity in Stephens County GA.”