State House Representative Pamela Stephenson described the changes that would affect the Rockdale County elections board in a local bill to be introduced at the General Assembly as "housekeeping" but declined to elaborate what those were.
"What we’re looking at would be minor," Stephenson told the News. The draft language of the bill was still being formed by the legislative council and might be available by Wednesday, she said.
However, Elections Supervisor Cynthia Welch said Monday that she was not aware of the bill or its contents and that all three elections board members had indicated they were not aware of the bill as well.
Stephenson had published a notice on Sunday indicating a local bill that would affect the Rockdale County elections board would be introduced in the General Assembly. She explained that the notice was published on Sunday in order to preserve the ability to introduce a bill within this session.
When asked if the changes were related to recent discussion of the elections board bylaws, Stephenson said she had seen a document with a version of the bylaws changes. "I saw a version that was probably in mid-February," she said.
She also said she had spoken to elections board members, but did not elaborate if that was related to the bylaws.
The Rockdale legislative delegation began working on all local bills about a month ago, said Stephenson.
Changes to the Rockdale elections board bylaws have been a contentious matter over the past several months, with Board of Elections meetings stretching to five hours.
Check back to www.rockdalenews.com for updates.
--------------------------------------
(March 28, 4:13 p.m.) IN BRIEF: State House Representative Pamela Stephenson published a notice on Sunday indicating a local bill that would affect the Rockdale County elections board would be introduced in the General Assembly. However, Elections Supervisor Cynthia Welch said that she was not aware of the bill or its contents and that all three elections board members had indicated they were not aware of the bill as well.
Draft text of the bill was not available at the Clerk's Office of the House of Representatives.
Check back to www.rockdalenews.com for updates.
