Media Malign Election Rules Meant To Bolster Certification Process

Georgia’s State Election Board (SEB) recently passed a series of rules aimed at ensuring that election results are accurate before they are certified. But left-wing corporate media is maligning the rules in an effort to make election certification nothing more than a hollow formality.

One rule approved by the SEB (Rule 183-1-12-.02) clarifies that county election boards can fulfill their certification responsibility “after reasonable inquiry that the tabulation and canvasing of the election are complete and accurate and that the results are a true and accurate accounting of all votes cast in that election.”

A separate rule (Rule 183-1-12-.12) permits, in part, board members to review “all election related documentation created during the conduct of elections prior to certification of results.”

But apparently, accuracy risks “undermining election certification,” according to CBS News.

The propaganda press has set out to do the bidding of Democrats (including Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign) to amplify the narrative that it’s better to rubber-stamp an election with no questions asked than to confirm that the election results are accurate.

CBS News’ Katrina Kaufman, Madeleine May, and Scott MacFarlane suggest the rules are meant to help “election conspiracy theorists across the country … attempt to delay the final tabulation of results.” But all the rules really do is clarify the role that county officials play in confirming that results are accurate as part of the certification process — a process that’s incredibly important, SEB Member Janelle King tells The Federalist.

“It’s not about the outcome, it’s about the process,” King said. “If the process is right, you can then trust the outcome.”

CNN’s Nick Valencia, Sara Murray, Jason Morris, and Jade Gordon echoed CBS News’ baseless claim, writing, “GOP-controlled election board in Georgia passes rule that could further delay certification.”

CBS News election law contributor David Becker suggests the rules would allow a single county to refuse to certify, which would then delay the state from certifying the results by the deadline.

But as the chairman of the Election Transparency Initiative Ken Cuccinelli explains in a post on X, “the rules provide clarity & do not in any way change [the] timeline of certification.”

“Following the law in certification process ensures one voter returns one ballot & is as simple as an airline making sure the number of people on the plane matches the number of tickets scanned for boarding. Rules create clarity,” Cuccinelli continued.

Rule 183-1-12-.12 does not change the certification deadline, even going so far as explicitly noting the 5:00 p.m. certification deadline on the Monday following the election.

“If you actually read the rule, you’ll see there’s nothing in there that would delay certification,” Cobb County GOP Chairwoman Salleigh Grubbs, who proposed the rule, tells The Federalist.

CNN further laments that county election officials can “investigate any possible discrepancies.” WABE’s Sam Gringlas similarly bemoans the new rules, which in part allow election board members, should they “identify a discrepancy,” to investigate the discrepancy before certification.

For example, before certifying the election results, a county could investigate why more ballots were cast than the number of voters who voted. The SEB ruled in May that Fulton County violated the law during the 2020 election when it double-scanned more than 3,000 ballots. Kevin Moncla, who filed a complaint against the county, tells The Federalist the ballots were also double-counted since they appeared in the cast vote record.

Brianna Lyman is an elections correspondent at The Federalist. Brianna graduated from Fordham University with a degree in International Political Economy. Her work has been featured on Newsmax, Fox News, Fox Business and RealClearPolitics. Follow Brianna on X: @briannalyman2