Who tinkered with a Georgia county border? Line moved behind a powerful sheriff's house

HOMER, Ga. — There’s a mystery in Sheriff Billy Carlton Speed’s backyard.

Somehow, the border between two rural Georgia counties abruptly moved behind Speed’s house a few years ago, a curved line that puts his residence in Banks County, where he’s the chief lawman, rather than in Franklin County, where he’s not.

The shifting boundary unleashed allegations — none proved — of mapping manipulation, corruption and fraud in this county in the northeast corner of the state. Known as the birthplace of baseball Hall of Famer Ty Cobb, Banks County is about 85 miles northeast of Atlanta

Disgusted by what he sees as “an unethical attempt to falsify a county boundary,” the recently elected county commission chairman is trying to restore the border to a straight line as it was mapped until early 2019.

If the map changes back, Speed’s house wouldn’t be located in Banks County. And if Speed doesn’t live in Banks County, state law says he’s not qualified to be the sheriff.

If he shouldn’t have been allowed to run for sheriff when he was first elected in 2012, investigations and lawsuits could soon follow.

Speed, a Republican and former president of the Georgia Sheriffs’ Association, said claims that he doesn’t live in Banks County are “a personal vendetta” by fellow Republican Dan Gasaway, a former state representative.

Gasaway proved in court that ineligible voters tainted his 2018 election loss. The judge in that case ordered a new election but ruled at the time that the evidence showed Speed’s residence — one of the properties that Gasaway disputed — was located in Banks County.

“Gasaway has resorted to fantastical accusations against various institutions, claiming conspiracies to manipulate election boundaries,” Speed wrote in an open letter to the Banks County community last week. “His fixation on undermining my residency, alongside his attempts to deflect attention from his own electoral shortcomings, only serves to sow discord and chaos within our beloved community.”

Speed wrote that the property has been in his wife’s family since the 19th century, and it’s always been within Banks County. He pays taxes in Banks County and his children attended Banks County schools, he wrote.

Gasaway’s efforts have gained support from conservative election integrity advocates, who see the shifting county border as a prime example of inaccuracies that can assign voters to the wrong districts and lead to inaccurate results.

“We’ve got tampering with a federal election boundary — clear, undisputed tampering,” Gasaway said. “We’ve got an unconstitutional sheriff, and someone has to step in. I’m not trying to make friends. I want to see this fixed.”

Moving the border back west could change the counties of the six voters in the Speed household and a handful of other residents who live near the disputed area.

After statewide redistricting in 2023, the line between Banks and Franklin counties also became the boundary between Congressional Districts 9 and 10, represented by Republican U.S. Reps. Andrew Clyde and Mike Collins.

Old town roads

Borders aren’t always immutable lines with distinct features such as rivers and roads. They were often created long ago, before the modern era of GPS coordinates and satellite imagery.

In this case, the county line starts in the south, running from the 10-mile marker on an old wagon road to Gainesville, then stretching directly north to Kesler’s Bridge. The road and bridge are long gone, but their locations are still mapped on county surveys. State lawmakers set the border when Banks County was created in 1859, and — at least according to state law — it shouldn’t have changed since.

But the border did shift in Banks County maps published online in January 2019.

Days before Gasaway’s case went to trial, a county employee uploaded a new map to the government’s website. This map introduced the bent border around the back of Speed’s house, which a county mapping analyst called “a kink in the line” when she testified.

“We know beyond a shadow of a doubt the change that was made then was wrong. Without a doubt, the line between the two points in question is straight,” Banks County Commission Chairman Taylor Griffith told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I’m certain she did not do that of her own will, but I do not know what led to it.”

Griffith, who took office in January after campaigning for government transparency, wrote in a recent Facebook post that he blames his predecessors for attempting to alter the border. He wrote that he’s seen “ZERO evidence” the sheriff had any involvement in tampering with the county line.

However, the county’s mapping analyst testified that she changed the line based on a survey of Speed’s 20-acre property, conducted by Speed’s wife’s uncle in 2003. The survey showed an “approximate county line” that passes behind Speed’s house, forming a crescent shape that puts his house within Banks County.

The analyst, Karen Burry, said in court that she was asked to map the boundary, and she used that survey and property deeds to revise the line in 2015. She didn’t say who asked her to review the border, nor did she disclose why the new map wasn’t published until days before the trial in 2019.

A search through the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine shows that Banks County’s website changed the map to include Speed’s house sometime between Jan. 15, 2019, and Jan. 18, 2019.

The U.S. Census updated its maps to reflect the new border in 2020. It’s unclear how that happened, and in response to questions by the AJC, Census officials would only provide links to the agency’s website.

“You’re also talking about coordinates or descriptions of a line boundary that was made in the late 1800s. … I don’t have documentation as to why there’s a kink in the line,” Burry testified, according to a transcript.

Burry, who is Banks County’s director of Geographic Information Systems, declined to comment when reached by the AJC. The previous county commission chairman, Charles Turk, couldn’t be reached.

Speed testified that he requested the survey of his house — the survey that shows the county line behind his house — in 2003 to ensure his children could attend school in Banks County. His Banks County residence was previously questioned in 2012 when he ran for sheriff, and a superior court judge ruled at the time that he is a resident of the county and eligible to run.

Jason Black, an attorney who represented Speed in the 2019 case, said the issue has been settled in court, and there’s never been any “smoking gun” or indication of any kind of fraud.

“I don’t know anybody would ever be able to shake down what conversations were had that made those things change over time or how they were recorded,” Black said. “But I will tell you it’s been established for some time where the boundary line is, and trying to unwind that is probably a waste of time and probably not a great use of taxpayer money either.”

‘That’s county politics’

A mapping expert in Gasaway’s case, Mark Davis, said modern mapping technology makes clear that the sheriff’s house is in Franklin County, not Banks County.

Any middle schooler could use Google Earth to see that Speed doesn’t live in Banks County, Davis said. The traditional county line passes west of his house, passing through a piece of his property.

“This is probably one of the most glaring examples of political corruption and the good ol’ boy network I’ve ever encountered,” said Davis, who has been a witness for several Republican candidates in election disputes. “His chickens live in Banks County, but he does not.”

The “guiding rule” under Georgia law to establish residency is where an individual is domiciled — the place they view as their long-term residence, said Matt Weiss, an Atlanta attorney who practices campaign and election law and works as deputy general counsel for the Democratic Party of Georgia.

“It sounds like he set up a fact pattern that would support him, but the map is the most important thing,” said Weiss, who isn’t involved in the Banks County border dispute. “If the boundary went through the property, he could make an argument.”

The state executive director for districting services, Gina Wright, said in cases where properties are split between two jurisdictions, voters are assigned to the area where their master bedroom is.

For now, while the old county line has been restored on county maps, Speed is still the sheriff and there’s no pending court challenge or government action that would change that.

Griffith, the county chairman, said he will seek a new land survey this year to establish where the county line should be set. Only then could the government formally adjust its borders and review where people live, where they pay their taxes and whether they can hold elected office.

“We’re talking about a minute difference to make a hell of an impact,” Griffith said. “We’re working on making sure what we have is dead-nuts correct.”

Gasaway already hired a surveyor in spring 2019 who swore in a court affidavit that Speed’s entire property is completely within Franklin County, and his house is over 500 feet from the county line.

Banks County Election Supervisor Gina Banister, who took the job last year, said she didn’t know what happened with the maps under the previous administration before Griffith won his election.

“That’s county politics,” Banister said. “But right is right and wrong is wrong. I want to make sure everything is correct.”