Clash with GOP may boost elections candidate | www.myajc.com

Revelations about Rick Barron’s recent travails in Texas make him a better pick to lead Fulton County’s troubled elections office, not a worse one, say several elections board members who chose him.

Although they weren’t aware that a small-town election held on his watch had to be redone because of a mistake, board members are urging the Fulton County Commission to hire him as the county’s new Registration and Elections director.

The error was made by a poll manager appointed by the Williamson County, Texas, Republican Party, not Barron, said elections board member Stan Matarazzo. Political parties play a larger role in Texas’ elections operations than they do in Georgia.

Barron has been elections administrator in the affluent Austin suburb for the past six years. He had to defend his job in January when the local GOP tried to have him fired — mostly because during the November election he and three law enforcement officers booted a Republican-appointed poll manager accused of berating a county employee.

via Clash with GOP may boost elections candidate | www.myajc.com.