GA Judge Nixes Election Integrity Rules Weeks Before Election

A Georgia judge nullified seven election integrity rules approved by the State Election Board (SEB) less than three weeks before Election Day.

Fulton County Judge Thomas Cox ruled that “the SEB lacked constitutional authority to enact” a series of proposals that were designed to maintain and ensure election integrity and accurate vote counts. Cox ruled that the state legislature is vested with the authority to regulate elections — even though the SEB is responsible for “promulgating rules and regulation to promote uniformity in election practices, and to promote legality and purity in elections.”

Other responsibilities of the SEB, as outlined by the secretary of state’s office, include “developing rules and regulations about what constitutes a vote that will be counted” and “taking such other action as the board may deem appropriate to conduct ‘fair, legal and orderly elections.’”

“The questions presented are legal ones regarding whether SEB had the authority to promulgate the rules at issue and whether these rules are legally enforceable in light of the Election Code, the Georgia Constitution, and the U.S. Constitution,” Cox wrote. Cox concluded that “the SEB lacks authority to promulgate these challenged rules” and that “the SEB has no constitutional authority to promulgate these rules because the General Assembly did not provide ‘sufficient’ or ‘realistic’ parameters guiding the SEB’s rulemaking here.”

The suit was filed by former Republican state legislator Scot Turner and his organization, Eternal Vigilance Action, and Chatham County election board member James Hall. The suit alleged that the SEB “promulgated rules that contravene the Election Code” and that the SEB lacks the authority to implement such changes. While the SEB rules created safeguards to ensure accurate vote counts, the suit contends that the effect of the rules on the election would alter “Georgians’ voting rights.” A similar suit was brought by the Democratic National Committee and the Georgia Democrat Party.

Cox permanently struck down Rule 183-1-12-.12 (a) (5), which aimed to ensure that the number of physical ballots counted on Election Day matches the machine count total at the precinct level. This rule would require “…three sworn precinct poll officers to independently count the total number of ballots removed from the scanner, sorting into stacks of 50 ballots, continuing until all of the ballots have been counted separately by each of the three poll officers.”

While Cox justified blocking the rule under the guise that “all rules enacted by the SEB must be consistent with the Existing Election Code,” SEB member Janelle King noted during a hearing on the proposal that several Georgia counties already conduct ballot reconciliation by hand and that this rule would simply be creating uniform guidance, as allegedly required by state statute.

“I just want to point out that according to our Georgia code, the role of the [SEB], part of our role, is to ‘promulgate rules and regulations to define uniform and nondiscriminatory standards,’” King said, reading from what she indicated to be state election code. “As we stated several times, having some counties counting by hand and some counties not, does not establish uniformity. This rule will do that, and we do have the ability to do that.”

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney had also blocked the rule in a Tuesday decision, arguing that, while the rule would simply provide a “confirmation that the machine counts match reality,” the rule change occurred too close to the election. McBurney asserted that there would not be enough time to properly train election workers. McBurney, however, in his Tuesday decision did say that the rule “appears consistent with the SEB’s mission of ensuring fair, legal, and orderly elections.”

Cox voided Rule 183-1-12-.02, known as the “reasonable inquiry” rule, which stated that county election board members are entitled to a “reasonable inquiry” into election discrepancies before certifying the results of an election. SEB member Janelle King said during the August hearing on the rule that “by supporting this rule what we’re saying is that we stand with those who have to sign legal documents stating that their information is accurate and ensuring they have what’s necessary to stand by that legal document.”

A separate rule (Rule 183-1-12-.12) that in part permitted board members to review “all election related documentation created during the conduct of elections prior to certification of results” was also nullified by Cox.

Notably McBurney, in a Monday decision ruling that election officials must certify election results even if the results show “more votes than voters” or are “non-sensical,” acknowledged that election superintendents (those tasked with certifying the results of an election) have a responsibility to investigate any election discrepancies and are entitled to review election-related materials as part of this process.

Cox’s decision further nullified one rule requiring voters to present a photo ID and sign their name when dropping an absentee ballot at a drop box, a rule that would require surveillance cameras at each drop box, a rule that expanded the area where poll watchers could be positioned, and a daily reporting rule, which as described by Cox, would expand the daily reporting (already defined in Election Code) to include weekend reporting.

For more election news and updates, visit electionbriefing.com.

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