OAN Staff Avril Elfie
4:20pm – Tuesday, October 15, 2024
A Georgia judge has ruled that state election officials must certify vote counts by a legally mandated deadline, even if errors or certification fraud are suspected.
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On Monday, Fulton County Senior Judge Robert McBurney ruled that “no election official (or member of the Board of Elections and Registration) may, under any circumstances, refuse to certify or abstain from certifying the results of an election. The court ruled that “no.”
He went on to explain that officials have the right to investigate concerns about the vote count and review relevant documents. But he also said that “delays in receiving such information are not grounds for refusing to certify or abstain from certifying the election results.”
Election results must be certified by each county in Georgia by 5 p.m. on the Monday or Tuesday following the election.
The decision came on the same day that residents of the Peach State voted early, starting Oct. 15.th Until November 1stcent Julie Adams, a member of the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections, was responsible for filing the lawsuit.
Adams had voted against certifying the results of the presidential primary in May. After her request for documents was denied, she filed a complaint with the Fulton County Board of Elections, arguing that it was her right to refuse to certify the results and that this would prevent her from performing her duties as superintendent. filed a lawsuit against. Mr. Adams then requested election documents to confirm the accuracy of the results. However, county officials denied her request, arguing that certification was an essential aspect of her role and that the request was outside her scope of work.
In his ruling, McBurney wrote about how Georgia law does not give county election officials the authority to determine that fraud has occurred or what to do about fraud. He said he refrained from including language on how to hold it. Rather, the law adds that county election officials' “concerns about fraud or systemic errors should be noted and shared with appropriate authorities, but they are not grounds for the superintendent to deny certification.”
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