Why Georgia Is Keeping Such a Close Watch on Atlanta’s Elections

Fulton County, Georgia, will again be one of the most-watched places in the US this election — and the head of the state’s new elections board will be watching particularly closely.

In June, Georgia appointed William S. Duffey, Jr., a former US District judge, to chair the five-member state board and preside over the general election. Duffey’s job is to rule on issues concerning challenges to voters’ eligibility, discrepancies over absentee ballots and the ballot count itself. To that end, his board has dispatched investigators to observe and report back on how the election is being run. While those officials have ranged statewide, most of them have and will be concentrated in Fulton — the primarily Black, Democratic county that encapsulates most of Atlanta — as Georgia conducts a review of how it administers elections.