A proposal is expected to be announced tonight that could lead to the creation of a board of elections for the first time in Baldwin County history.
The tentative proposal is to have the current members of the Baldwin County Board of Registrars make up the new board of elections. The proposal follows several special meetings between two county commissioners appointed to the committee and other local county officials.
The latest such committee meeting took place last Thursday at the county government complex. Leading the committee was Baldwin County Commission vice chairman Johnny Westmoreland, who served as committee chairman, and Commissioner Kendrick Butts. Others involved in the proposed process have included Baldwin County Probate Judge and Elections Superintendent Todd A. Blackwell, Baldwin County Chief Deputy Registrar Randy Morrow, Baldwin County Clerk Cindy Cunningham and Baldwin County Attorney Brandon Palmer.
Westmoreland said the commissioners desire to create a board of elections before the state mandates it for all 159 counties across Georgia.
“This is something we want to get ahead of on our own before the state mandates it and we are forced to go by what they say,” Westmoreland told The Union-Recorder during a recent meeting.
During last week’s meeting, Westmoreland said he had talked with several commissioners in other counties and had a number of them that Cunningham had filtered out.
“Nobody, nobody, and I even called the ACCG, including Bill Tubey, and asked him if anybody was using the courts to appoint, and the answer is no,” Westmoreland said. “So, we’ve got to decide what is going to be the best way for us to do this.”
He pointed out that the majority of counties that had been contacted about the subject are doing it with two members chosen by the…
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