A new Georgia election rule approved Monday creates additional steps before results can be certified, including a requirement to verify vote counts prior to the deadline for overseas and military ballots.
The State Election Board voted 3-2 to finalize the rule, which was supported by three Republican board members whom Donald Trump praised during a recent Atlanta rally.
Opponents of the rule said it could disenfranchise voters or create delays if county election boards refuse to certify elections as required by law.
The rule is the latest effort to change what it means to certify election results ahead of this year’s presidential election, following up on a requirement passed earlier this month that counties conduct an undefined “reasonable inquiry” before finalizing results.
Voting rights groups predicted the new rules will cause chaos in November.
“I can also just see us literally impacting the entire nation with this,” said Brittany Burns of Protect the Vote GA during a Capitol press conference. “This can actually impact the presidential election.”
At least 19 county election board members have objected to certifying elections since Trump claimed the 2020 race was stolen, according to a statewide survey by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. State election investigations have repeatedly debunked allegations of widespread fraud but verified vote-counting errors.
Under the rule, each county election board would meet by 3 p.m. on the Friday after election day to compile vote totals by precinct and ballot type.
But ballots can still be received and counted until the end of the day that Friday, including provisional ballots, absentee ballots that needed voter verification, and ballots from overseas and military voters. All other ballots are due before polls close at 7 p.m. on election night.
The rule also allows county election boards to examine all election-related documents and only certify elections after discrepancies are investigated and resolved. The rule also says if errors are discovered that can’t be corrected, election boards must determine a method to compute the votes.
Final vote totals must be certified by county election boards one week after election day, or Nov. 12 for this year’s presidential election.
Hans von Spakovsky of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative organization, said county election officials need a greater ability to verify vote totals.
“This is a matter of good government, not politics,” von Spakovsky told the board during the virtual meeting that drew more than 850 viewers. “Those who say this will disenfranchise voters, that is just not true. What will disenfranchise voters is if a precinct counts 900 votes and it turns out 1,000 voters came in.”
State Election Board Chairman John Fervier opposed the rule, saying he’s concerned that county election board members could use it as a justification to vote against certifying elections.
“This rule would lead to an unlimited search of documents that could create board members saying, ‘Well, I didn’t receive X, I didn’t receive Y, so I’m not going to certify this election,’” said Fervier, who was appointed by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp. “I’ve always believed there need to be guardrails around that process.”
Board member Janice Johnston said the rule is needed to ensure accurate vote counts.
“It is the authority and the duty of the board or the superintendent to review and systematically count every legal vote,” said Johnston, who was appointed by the Georgia Republican Party. “If the board or the superintendent found that there were votes that were made illegally, they should not be counted.”
The new rule is scheduled to take effect in 20 days, less than two months before the Nov. 5 election.
The State Election Board has the power to create rules as long as they don’t conflict with Georgia election laws. The state board doesn’t certify election results, which is a duty of county election boards. No lawsuits have been filed so far to challenge the new rules.
The board tabled a different rule proposal that would have required three poll workers to hand-count the number of ballots cast on election night to ensure totals match the number of ballots recorded by voting machines.
After hearing concerns about delays in reporting election results, the board considered allowing the verification of ballot counts the day after election day. That rule could be reconsidered at a future State Election Board meeting.
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