Leveraging power granted to it by new state laws, the Georgia state board of elections took the first step in taking over responsibility for elections in Fulton County, a Democratic stronghold in the state’s most populous county, the Associated Press reports.

The Republican-dominated five member board, with a new chair  who replaced Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in April, voted unanimously Wednesday to approve a bipartisan, three-person review panel to review the practices of Fulton County officials in the 2020 and 2021 runoff elections.  The board had earlier announced that it found no irregularities in the management of the elections or the way in which ballots were counted.

Raffensperger has been the target of ire from Donald Trump and far right Republicans for failing to undermine local election officials who verified the counts of their precincts, which showed Joe Biden won the state and two Democrats won the state’s two Senate seats.

The board, which has four Republicans and one Democrat, named to the panel Stephen Day, a Democratic appointee to the Gwinnett County election board; Ricky Kittle, a Republican appointee to the Catoosa County election board; and Ryan Germany, general counsel for the secretary of state’s office.

“The narrative driving this [political pressure on the board] has been influenced by disinformation surrounding the November 2020 election, but the fact remains that Fulton County voters have reported numerous problems for far longer than November 2020, particularly surrounding registration and absentee ballots,” Sara Tindall Ghazal, the board’s sole Democrat, said. “I urge Fulton County to view this performance review board as an opportunity to have fresh eyes on their systems and procedures and identify areas of improvement.”