MILTON, Ga. — Vernetta Nuriddin, former vice chair of the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections, has been hired as the elections consultant for Milton’s municipal general elections this year.
Her $25,000 contract, passed on the Milton City Council’s consent agenda June 5, has an official start date of May 31 and runs through the end of the year.
Nuriddin is expected to review standard operating procedures, maintain clear lines of communication with the Secretary of State’s Office and Fulton County as well as ensure polling locations are set up and operating correctly.
Nuriddin will also be involved in the hiring process for poll managers and workers. Steve Krokoff, Milton city manager and election superintendent, said there are already more than 70 applications for those roles. Milton will have roughly 32 poll workers, with 16 at each location on Election Day.
In a series of phone conversations, Krokoff said Nuriddin appeared to be “quite knowledgeable” about elections and had the right connections. Krokoff also described Nuriddin’s relative experience, such as her role on the county’s election board and some direct administration.
However, Nuriddin does not have hands-on experience as an elections superintendent.
“Unfortunately, at the end of the day, we didn’t have anybody with that level of experience that was willing to take on this role.”
Another prospect was a consultant provided by the Election Center, aka the National Association of Election Officials, but the price tag was six figures, far exceeding the city’s $20,000 budget for the role.
The nomination for Nuriddin came to city staff’s attention by way of Fulton County Commissioner Bridget Thorne and Milton City Councilman Rick Mohrig. In an interview with Appen Media, Thorne cited Nuriddin’s election certifications as a key reason for her…
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