QUITMAN — Gov. Nathan Deal has suspended three Brooks County school board members pending the outcome of the “Quitman Ten” voter-fraud case.

On Tuesday, Deal issued his order prior to the Brooks County Board of Education’s first meeting of 2012. Dr. Nancy Whitfield-Dennard, Elizabeth Diane Thomas and Linda Faye Troutman were notified of this suspension at approximately 4:30 p.m., according to sources.

The three school board members and nine other Brooks County residents were indicted Nov. 22, 2011, on several counts of unlawful possession of ballots, etc., related to hundreds of absentee ballots that arrived in their favor in the 2010 Brooks school board election. The case originally involved 10 defendants, leading to the “Quitman Ten” reference, but two more people were indicted in the case in November 2011.

Following the governor’s suspension this week, Brooks County school board member Brad Shealy, who is also an assistant Southern district attorney, was appointed to serve as president of the board with board member Larry Cunningham serving as vice president. Shealy served many years as the school board president prior to Whitfield-Dennard being named president last year.

With Whitfield-Dennard, Thomas and Troutman being black, the governor’s suspension returns the Brooks County school board to a white majority.

Harold Eddy, an attorney with a Gainesville-based public-education law firm, said the school board remains uncertain what it will do with the three vacant seats caused by the suspension.

“They were not actually dismissed,” said Eddy. “They are temporarily suspended and, pending the proceedings, they could be found not guilty and return to the board. We just found out about this       (Tuesday) afternoon and are trying to determine whether there is any type of statutory provision that would address this. If not, it would be up to the governor’s office to appoint replacements.”

On Dec. 20, 2011, Deal appointed a review commission comprised of Attorney General Sam Olens, Henry County Board of Education member Erik Charles and Bleckley County Board of Education member Kim Wright to determine whether the indictments “relate to and adversely affects the administration of the office of Brooks County Board of Education.”

Frank Thomas, who was not indicted on voter-fraud charges, said the future for the three board members is uncertain.

“I do believe that it was a move that was unprecedented,” said Thomas. “We didn’t raise taxes and we made great improvements within the system this year. Nobody has ever done a better job. All the people on the board that were suspended were outstanding and honest teachers within the community and school system. All of them.”

Calvary Christian Center Pastor Ronnie Avery feels the indictment is a political move and little else.

“It’s been a travesty of justice. I believe these people who lost the election are angry; they didn’t expect to be beat,” said Avery. “It’s a matter of sour grapes. They have not been convicted of anything yet they have been disenfranchised from their position. (Gov. Deal) made things worse and he did not have the right to remove them because they had not been convicted of anything.

“It was a shot across the black community to let us know that if you rise up against the powers that be, this is what’s going to happen,” he said. “More than anything, it was a fear tactic to keep black people from being involved in the political process.”

Avery said many South Georgia residents have spoken to national NAACP representatives for help in this situation.

None of the indicted defendants have entered guilty pleas. Brooks County Superior Court is scheduled to try the case in April. Valdosta-based attorney Roy Copeland is the defense attorney; South Georgia District Attorney Joseph K. Mulholland of Bainbridge will serve as prosecution on the case. Copeland did not return The Times’ calls Wednesday.

“My concern as a community activist and concerned citizen is why I have not seen their attorneys,” said George Rhynes, who has covered the case on his online blog since it started in 2010. “We have state representatives, the NAACP and (famed civil rights activist) Joseph Lowery who have came out to support the Quitman Ten, yet so many things about this case have not been published.”