A judge has blocked a new rule in Georgia that would require Election Day ballots to be counted by hand after polls close.
The ruling came a day after the same judge ruled that county election officials must certify election results by a deadline set by law.
Last month, the state Board of Elections passed a rule requiring three poll workers to manually count paper ballots, rather than votes, after polls close.
The county election board in Cobb County, a suburb of Atlanta, has filed a lawsuit with a judge, arguing that this rule and five others recently passed by the state board go beyond the state board's authority and were not adopted in accordance with the law. He had filed a lawsuit seeking to have it declared invalid. It's against the law and unreasonable.
In a ruling late Tuesday, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney said the so-called hand count rule was “too much, too late” and blocked its enforcement while he considered the merits of the case. Then he said.
“No election official (or member of the Board of Elections and Registration) may refuse to certify or abstain from certifying the election results under any circumstances,” McBurney wrote in a separate lawsuit Monday. It was decided that
They have the right to inspect the conduct of the election and consider relevant documents, but “delays in receiving such information shall not be grounds for refusing to certify the election results or for abstaining.'' '' he wrote.
According to Georgia law, a county board of elections (usually a multi-member board) must report election results by 5 p.m. on the Monday after the election, or if that Monday is a holiday like this year, on Tuesday. It states that it must be “certified.''
The two rulings came as early voting began in Georgia on Tuesday.
These are victories for Democrats, liberal voting rights groups and some legal experts, and if former President Donald Trump loses to Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in next month's presidential election, Trump's allies will They expressed concern that the certification could be refused.
They also argued that new rules enacted by a majority of state election officials supported by President Trump could be used to halt or delay certification and undermine public confidence in the results.
In blocking the hand counting rule, McBurney argued that there were no guidelines or training tools for its implementation, and that the Secretary of State passed the rule too late for his office to provide meaningful training or support. He pointed out that he said.
The judge also said the county election budget does not include any allowances to provide additional personnel or costs related to the rule.
“The administrative turmoil that will or may occur in the future completely undermines the Electoral Commission’s (and SEB’s) obligation to ensure that our elections are fair, lawful and orderly. ,” he wrote.
McBurney said that while the state board may be right that the rule is prudent policy, it is “completely wrong” to implement it now given the timing of its passage. I wrote it.
He cited memories of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol by people who tried to block the certification of Democrat Joe Biden's presidential victory, saying it “added uncertainty and disorder to the electoral process.” All of this is to the detriment of the people's interests.”
At a hearing early Tuesday, Robert Thomas, an attorney for the State Board of Elections, argued that the process is not complicated and that estimates suggest it will take minutes, not hours, to complete.
He also said memory cards from the scanners used to count votes can be sent to counting centers while hand counting is taking place to avoid delays in reporting results.
State and national Democratic organizations that joined the Cobb Election Commission in the lawsuit, along with the Harris campaign, praised McBurney's ruling in a joint statement, saying: And our democracy is stronger because of this decision to stop it. ”
The certification decision stems from a lawsuit filed by Julie Adams, a Republican on the board of elections in Fulton County, a Democratic stronghold that includes much of the city of Atlanta.
Ms. Adams sought a declaration that her role as election commissioner was discretionary and that she had the right to “full access” to “election materials.”
An administrative task that has long received little attention, the certification of election results has become a politicized issue since President Trump sought to overturn his loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 general election.
Republicans in several battleground states, including Adams, refused to certify the results earlier this year, and some have filed lawsuits to avoid being forced to certify the election results.
Adams' lawsuit, backed by the Trump-aligned America First Policy Institute, argued that county election officials have discretion to refuse certification.
In court earlier this month, her lawyers also argued that county election officials may certify results without including certain ballots if they suspect a problem.
Judge McBurney wrote that nothing in Georgia law gives county election officials the authority to determine whether there has been fraud or what to do about it.
Instead, he said, state law requires county election officials' “concerns about fraud or systemic errors to be noted and shared with appropriate authorities, but that is not grounds for the superintendent to deny certification.” ” states.
The Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Party of Georgia were named defendants in the lawsuit, with support from the Harris campaign. The campaign called the ruling a “major legal victory.”
Adams said in a statement that McBurney's ruling makes clear that she and other county election officials “cannot be prevented from accessing elections in our county.”
Since August, election rules passed in quick succession by the State Board of Elections have led to a flurry of lawsuits.
Earlier this month, McBurney heard challenges to two rules related to certification filed by the state Democratic Party and the national Democratic Party.
Another Fulton County judge is scheduled to hear arguments tomorrow in two challenges to the rules. One case was brought by a Democratic group and the other by a group led by a former Republican lawmaker. And other challenges are pending in at least two other counties.
