The Rockdale County Board of Elections agreed on William Todd today as the at-large third member and board chairman, concluding an extended and at times controversial search for the third member that involved intervention from Superior Court. The vote came after the elections board staff read a letter recommending Bond's performance as interim third member.

Last week after two days of interviewing six applicants, Republican member Jonny Brown named Cary Bond, who is currently serving as the interim third member, and William Todd as his top two picks. Democratic member Caycie Dix named David Farmer and William Todd as her top two selections.

During Monday's called meeting, Brown asked Dix if there was any way convince her to keep interim third member Cary Bond on the board. Dix said she felt it was in the best interest of the board to start fresh.

Dix said, after the meeting, "Even though I didn’t have any personal objections to Mr. Bond, I did think in order to restore confidence and public trust that has been lost over the past year, it was best if we started fresh with a completely new board of elections."

"I chose William Todd because with his experience serving as a former state court judge, he had the experience serving as a neutral body, showing impartiality when it comes to difficult issues."

Todd, a former Rockdale County State Court Judge for 12 years and Chief Assistant District Attorney in the Rockdale/DeKalb DA's office, said after keeping track of the elections board struggles through newspaper articles, he decided to apply to help the residents of Rockdale County.

"I think my career has prepared me for something like this. I just want to make the voters and citizen of Rockdale County proud."

"I hope we can work together to come up with a proposal for legislators that will be passed and help prevent an impasse like we had in the past. I also look forward to working with the two board members already on."

In an unusual action, the elections board staff sent a letter to Brown and Dix on Friday expressing their views on Bond's performance.

The letter, signed by staff members including Elections Supervisor Cynthia Welch, said "We, the staff of the Board of Elections Office would like to respectfully express our recommendations... We humbly recommend that Mr. Cary Bond be reapponted as the At-Large Member."

The letter continued, describing Bond's understanding of the process and leading the process of obtaining a document imaging system to back up the voter registrations records. "Mr. Bond continuously offers his service and maintains daily contact with staff to ensure all operations are functioning as required. Most importantly, Mr. Bond understands the Elections processes, including its laws and based on his experience in working with the State of Georgia and Legislatures, he is an invaluable asset to our office."

Welch said after the meeting, "For the staff, it was his experience and continuing dedication." She said that being on the board takes up a lot of time, but "he stayed on top of it."

However, she added, "We have to support the board as a whole and we as a staff will do that."

"I'm glad we have it behind us."

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(Jan. 23, 11:09 a.m.) IN BRIEF: Elections board members Caycie Dix and Jonny Brown agreed upon William Todd as the third member of the elections board. The vote came after the board of elections staff read a letter supporting the selection of Cary Bond based on his performance and dedication.

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