Election integrity advocates rejoiced after Georgia’s State Election Board passed a rule that required hand-counting ballots at the precinct level if there appeared to be a problem (such as more ballots than registered voters) in a precinct’s scanner count. But a state judge has blocked implementation of the the rule for the 2024 election.
“This election season is fraught; memories of January 6 have not faded away, regardless of one’s view of that date’s fame or infamy. Anything that adds uncertainty and disorder to the electoral process disserves the public,” Judge Robert McBurney wrote.
Uncertainty because of hand-counting? The measure was enormously unpopular on the left and even spurred a spate of articles in the mainstream press to the effect that hand counts are less accurate than machine counts. Another charge is that a hand count would slow down certification.
“[M]y husband and I are co-chairs of a PAC, an organization called Let’s Win for America Action, where we focus on messaging to diverse communities, with voters that are not traditionally Republican in a very relaxed environment that doesn’t feel highly political.”
Janelle King is a media personality, a Republican member of the Election Board, and a staunch supporter of the hand-counting measure. “I think what this does,” Janelle told IWF, when it appeared that the rule would be implemented for this election season, “is create a ground-up approach. It’s much easier to find issues or mistakes in human error when you start on the precinct level than it is to find those same errors on the state level. What most of the organizations and individuals who are opposing us want is for our county board members to certify the results ministerially, even if there are mistakes, and then to handle those issues on the state level. Well, I think that causes a lot of confusion. We feel like it creates an unnecessary layer of difficulty because now you’re asking the state to go find the errors.
“That means they must comb through all 159 counties and then there’s one county that has 159 precincts itself! This will occur after the election has happened, after results have already been determined, and now you want to go back and fix it? The rules we’re supporting will help us address any type of breaks in the chain in this process early so that we can address it in real-time, and then people can feel more secure about the outcome of the election results.
“If you look at these rules, they don’t benefit any particular party,” King continues. “They have nothing to do with what’s on the ballot. It has everything to do with the total number of ballots and making sure that those totals are not shifting, that they are accurate the first time.” King stresses that the Election Board doesn’t just write rules to suit themselves. “We get proposals from election officials and members of the public who are involved in the election process. They look at the process and they’ll say, ‘Hey, this is a rule that I think would help strengthen our election systems and secure our elections even further.’ ”
Although the hand-counting rule won’t be used this year, barring yet another new development, Janelle King has emerged as a strong voice for election integrity.
When a New York Magazine cover story in June depicted Republican women as pathetic creatures “caught between upholding a conservative white patriarchy” and “asserting their value as women,” Janelle King was having none of it.
Fox Business host Stuart Varney asked King if the magazine was mocking Republican women. “I feel like they’re mocking all women,” King replied jauntily. She criticized the magazine for “claiming to be empowering of women, while tearing down women” and “talking about our physical appearance and saying nothing of our inner beauty… that is classic Democrat.”
Classic Janelle: upbeat and smart. “Janelle, you’re all right,” said the obviously-impressed Varney. King, who has been described as “a rising star in the conservative politics of Georgia,” is a former chair of the Georgia Black Republicans Council. She was appointed to the Election Board in May by state House Speaker Joe Burns.
Janelle was born in New Haven, Connecticut, but her parents moved to Tarboro, North Carolina when she was around eight. Her father was a phlebotomist, and her mother was a stay-at-home mother. “I grew up in a spiritual home, so we didn’t talk much about politics, but it was very spiritual, and we loved God,” she recalled. Janelle went to North Carolina A & T State University in Greensboro, North Carolina and subsequently earned a master’s degree online.
When there are discrepancies, King says that hand-counting ballots at the precinct level is “a ground-up approach. It’s much easier to find issues or mistakes in human error when you start on the precinct level than it is to find those same errors on the state level.”
Janelle moved to Georgia and worked at a series of administrative jobs. She was employed by a youth program when one day her boss told her he had to be off to attend a Republican gathering. Republican? Janelle had recently become a Republican. Intrigued, Janelle asked if she could tag along. “I had no clue about politics at that time, but I’ve always been a curious person,” she tells IWF. She liked what she heard at the meeting. “From then on, I’ve been involved in politics. It was 12 years ago, and I’ve been in politics in some capacity in Georgia—whether interning, helping run some campaigns, or working behind the scenes—since. I eventually became the deputy state director of the Georgia Republican Party in 2018. I started looking at other things and then I was approached to join the Georgia Gang. And so I joined the Georgia Gang, and I’ve been in media ever since, and so now my husband and I are co-chairs of a PAC, an organization called Let’s Win for America Action, where we focus on messaging to diverse communities and trying to have conversations with voters that are not traditionally Republican in a very relaxed environment that doesn’t feel highly political.”
The Georgia Gang is a long-running public affairs show with panelists (like the old McLaughlin Group, but for Georgians). “I felt the need to start the podcast because when I was on the Georgia Gang, we would get a couple of seconds, 30 seconds to a minute to really explain our thoughts on certain topics,” Janelle says. “I just wanted more time to give a well-thought-out answer and not just my sound bites.” She has a popular podcast, The Janelle King Show, which features lively discussions of the issues of the day. “I genuinely believe politics found me,” Janelle says.
When asked if black voters are moving towards the Republican Party, Janelle says, “How many years must pass of you doing the same thing repeatedly and getting the same results, even though you’re hoping for something different? So, now black voters are waking up to this reality. Black voters are becoming more vocal. You have a younger generation who is tired of seeing their parents struggle and must figure out how to make it through financially despite bad policies. Our community is more educated. So, I think it’s a natural progression back to our traditional values.”
In addition to the hand-counting measure, the Election Board has proposed several measures that have generated fierce opposition. One is a measure to permit county election board officials to conduct “reasonable inquiry” before certifying the results. Another gives county election boards access to the underlying documents to investigate apparent discrepancies. State Rep. Nabilah Islam Parkes charged that the Board is attempting to help Donald Trump. “What is unfolding in Georgia is nothing less than a concerted effort to subvert democracy and move us backwards,” said U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath. “They are creating barriers to counting votes and certifying the elections so Donald Trump can once again attempt to throw our country into chaos.”
Former Acting Homeland Security Deputy Secretary and founder of the Election Transparency Initiative Ken Cuccinelli, however, praises the measures. “The idea that board members do not have such authority [to examine results before certifying them] is contrary to law—a Marc Elias invented principle that is not supported by decades of election law precedent,” Cuccinelli said. “Any election administrator who is ‘confused’ or ‘concerned’ about the rule effectively acknowledges that he or she has been proceeding with homemade procedures that fail to adhere to the election code.”
“Black voters are becoming more vocal,” says King. “You have a younger generation who is tired of seeing their parents struggle through and must figure out how to make it through financially despite bad policies.”
The Federalist also weighed in: “The propaganda press has set out to do the bidding of Democrats (including Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign) to amplify the narrative that it’s better to rubber-stamp an election with no questions asked than to confirm that the election results are accurate.” CBS even aired the notion that the measures would benefit “election conspiracy theorists across the country… attempt to delay the final tabulation of results.” Janelle says that all these reforms mandate that the election results must be certified by the Monday after the election.
Janelle is married to Kelvin King, an entrepreneur who has built a successful construction firm. Kelvin King, who was raised in poverty by a single mother, went on to graduate from the U.S. Air Force Academy. Janelle is devoted to Kelvin’s son—she calls him her bonus son, and he calls her his bonus mom. Kelvin ran against Hershel Walker in the Republican primary for a seat in the U.S. Senate.We know you’ll enjoy meeting Janelle King and that you’ll agree with Stuart Varney (and us) that she’s all right—and be glad that she is fighting the good fight for election integrity, no matter the sound and fury arrayed against her.