Democrats sued the Georgia State Election Board on Monday, claiming that a new rule ordering counties to count ballots by hand would invite chaos on election night, create delays in reporting results for large counties and put the security of ballots at risk, according to a copy of the lawsuit obtained by The New York Times.
The lawsuit, filed by the Democratic National Committee and Democratic Party of Georgia with support from Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign, argues that the state election board went far beyond its authority in passing the rule, and notes that the board is not a lawmaking body and that the rule conflicts with the process established by the Georgia General Assembly.
The rule, passed by the Georgia State Election Board this month, requires local election officials to count ballots by hand after polls close to ensure the total number of ballots matches the machine-counted totals. (The hand count would not require officials to consider for whom each ballot was cast.) Before the vote, both the secretary of state and attorney general of Georgia warned the board that it was likely exceeding its authority in passing such a rule and was changing the election process far too close to Election Day.
“To protect the sanctity of the state’s laws and to prevent election night chaos, this Court should declare that the Hand Count Rule exceeds SEB’s statutory authority,” the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit comes as the Georgia State Election Board has inserted itself directly into the political storm of one of the most closely contested battleground states. Ever since a 3-2 right-wing majority emerged this summer, the board has passed a host of rules and measures that closely align with that faction’s policies and political goals.
Former President Donald J. Trump has praised the three majority members of the board, including calling them out by name at a rally in Atlanta this summer and referring to them as “pit bulls” fighting for “victory.”
This is the second such lawsuit filed by the Democrats against the Georgia State Election Board in the past six weeks; the other lawsuit, against a state election board rule upending the election certification process, is scheduled to begin trial on Tuesday.
Democrats filed the lawsuit on Monday, though it has not appeared on the Georgia superior court docket yet; the Democrats say that delay is because Hurricane Helene affected the court system, creating a significant backlog in the filing system. The clerk’s office at Fulton County Superior Court confirmed it has a backlog because the office was closed on Friday.
A representative for the Georgia state election board did not immediately respond to a request for comment. During debate over the rule at the board meeting this month, Janelle King, one of the members who voted in favor of the rule, argued that the board was “creating more stability in our election process” by bringing more transparency to the process and giving election officials the opportunity to ensure that the final results are accurate.
The board has been met with near universal resistance from election officials at the state and local level in Georgia. Brad Raffensperger, the Republican secretary of state, has repeatedly said the board is “a mess” and warned that its rules were making elections in Georgia less safe and secure.
Local election officials, represented by the Georgia Association of Voter Registration and Election Officials, have denounced the board for making changes so close to the election, with many counties having already trained their poll workers.
In a statement, Quentin Fulks, the deputy campaign manager for Ms. Harris, said the hand-counting rule was an attempt to undermine the post-election process in Georgia.
“We agree with Georgia’s Republican Attorney General and Secretary of State: This rule is unproductive and unlawful, and we are fighting it,” Mr. Fulks said. “Democrats are stepping in to ensure that Georgia voters can cast their ballots knowing that they will be counted in a free and fair election.”
The lawsuit also notes that the origins of the hand-count rule have close ties to false conspiracy theories about election machines that proliferated among the far right of the Republican Party in the aftermath of the 2020 election, and “is also in direct conflict with at least six Election Code provisions.”
“Nothing in the Election Code permits the kind of hand counting contemplated by the Hand Count Rule,” the lawsuit states.
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