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Who is Alice O'Lenick? #AliceMustGo trends after Republican official wants change in election laws so GOP can win

Several members of the Gwinnett County legislative delegations have called for Alice O'Lenick's resignation after she gave remarks on changing some elections laws

Right on the eve of Inauguration Day 2021, when Democratic candidate Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are all set to take oath as the next president and vice-president of the United States of America, more than a dozen civil rights groups are calling for a Republican election official, Alice O’Lenick, to resign from her post. O’Lenick called on Georgia state lawmakers to change the voting rules so that Republicans might get a fair chance of winning.

After Election Day 2020, President Donald Trump had claimed voter fraud had taken place in several major states, however, he could produce no proof to back his claims. Meanwhile, Republicans in the Georgia legislature have reportedly decided to reexamine the state’s voting laws in the coming months. In addition to this, Republicans are reportedly planning to introduce a new requirement to have voters provide a copy of their identification card when they submit an absentee ballot. O’Lenick has now talked about getting rid of no-excuse absentee voting in the Georgia legislature.

What Alice O'Lenick said?

Alice O’Lenick is Gwinnett’s Board of Registrations and Elections chairwoman for 2021 and 2022. The representative of the Gwinnett County Republican Party on the bipartisan county elections board told her fellow members that she favors significant election changes at the local and state levels. According to Gwinnett Daily Post, O’Lenick said she was recently on a Zoom call where she said she wouldn’t end the ongoing session without changing some voting laws.

“I was on a Zoom call the other day, and I said, ‘I’m like a dog with a bone. I will not let them end this session without changing some of these laws,’” O’Lenick said. “They don’t have to change all of them, but they’ve got to change the major parts of them so that we at least have a shot at winning.”

O’Lenick further discussed several reforms about the elections that she would like to see in the Georgia legislature. One such change would be having the state require up to 21 days of early voting with one mandatory Saturday voting day and one compulsory voting on a Sunday. While talking about the working hours, O’Lenick added that county elections officials are free to make their own working hours on the Sunday voting.

O’Lenick also talked about the absentee-by-mail that has caused a significant uproar on social media. As per O’Lenick, “you exclude the elderly and infirm (from needing an excuse), and everyone else would have to have an excuse. We took out a few years ago absentee-by-mail for cause, so you don’t have to say a cause. You just say, ‘It’s not convenient. I’m just not going to go (on election day).’”

Call for Alice O'Lenick's resignation

After O’Lenick’s bold statement went public, 15 members of the Gwinnett County legislative delegations joined 17 other groups to call on the county’s elections board’s chair to resign. In the letter, Democratic members have said that her remarks intend to suppress votes in the county. Republican Sam Park said that he had found O’Lenick’s comments “incredibly disheartening and very concerning.” In addition to Rep. Park, several other noted political figures have expressed their concerns regarding O’Lenick’s remarks.

"We are joining 16 other voting rights and civil rights orgs in calling for the resignation of Gwinnett County elections chair Alice O'Lenick after she threatened state lawmakers and demanded they make voting more difficult in Georgia to help Republicans win. #AliceMustGo #gapol," tweeted Georgia's Fair Fight Group.

Another group wrote, "Lincoln Voters, we need at least 5000 people to respond to this tweet with #AliceMustGo. Let's send a message that partisan politics have no place when it comes to our right to vote."

"15 state lawmakers and 17 organizations are demanding the resignation of Gwinnett Co elections chief Alice O'Lenick over her "dog with a bone" comments calling for changes in law to make election results more favorable to Republicans. #AliceMustGo is trending #3 nationally #gapol," writes another political expert.

However, George Awuku, another Republican member of the board, suggested that as per his views, O’Lenick’s statement does not ground for her to resign from her post.

O’Lenick said she would not resign. She said she stands by her statement that “we need to tighten up elections laws,” saying that the voter rolls haven’t been updated in two years and more can be done to secure absentee ballots. But O’Lenick said she wants more people voting, not fewer. “I’m actually trying to increase the amount of people able to vote,” she said. “We have to do it in a secure way that’s equitable for everyone.”