The Georgia Democratic Party, with the support of Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign, is asking a judge to weigh in on Georgia’s new rules for certifying election results.
“County officials across Georgia have already tried to block or delay certification after the recent election, and the changed rules give them new tools to try again,” the petitioners wrote.
The Democratic National Committee, as well as several Democratic members of local election committees and state legislators, also joined the lawsuit, which was filed Monday in Fulton County Superior Court.
This month, the three Republican members of the state election board voted for new rules that could lead some members of local election boards to refuse to certify election results.
One rule states that if members of the local board of elections find discrepancies, “no votes from that precinct shall be counted” until the investigation is complete. If board members find an error that they believe cannot be corrected, “the board shall determine a method for fairly counting the votes.”
Most legal experts agree that local election boards do not have this discretion under Georgia law.
The applicants are asking the court to make certification of election results mandatory and to require election officials to certify the results of the November 5 election no later than 5 p.m. on November 12. They are also asking the court to block enforcement of the new rules if the court finds that they are inconsistent with these principles.
Georgia Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger criticized the new regulations and clarified that certification must be completed by November 12 to comply with state law.
“Activists seeking to push through last-minute changes to voting procedures outside the legislative process undermine voter confidence and place a burden on election workers,” he wrote in a recent statement.
The three Republican-appointed members of the five-member State Election Board have come under increasing scrutiny this summer for approving several sweeping rule changes just before early voting began. Former President Donald Trump praised the members by name at a recent rally in Atlanta, calling them “pit bulls fighting for honesty, transparency and victory.”
The trio also face several ethics complaints calling for the three Republican board members to be fired. These are currently being reviewed by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp. The governor’s office says it is awaiting direction from the attorney general. The governor is normally tasked with referring these cases to a state administrative court for review.
“We need the governor and Republican leadership to step up in the room as adults, confront these extremists and tell them that what they are doing is wrong and that if their candidate is to win, he must have a fair victory,” Democratic Rep. Saira Draper said at a news conference on Monday.
The Georgia Association of Voter Registration and Election Officials also criticized the new rules and called on the committee to stop their implementation.
Quentin Fulks, Harris-Walz’s deputy campaign manager, wrote in a statement that Republicans in Georgia have laid the groundwork to challenge this fall’s election results.
“A few unelected extremists cannot simply decide not to count your vote,” Fulks wrote.
Fulks added that Democrats will win this case “and continue to fight so that every eligible voter can cast their ballot with confidence that it counts.”
Janelle King, a Republican state board member, told WABE on Monday that she was “100 percent confident” that her actions were legal and ethical.
The state’s Republican Party also strongly called for the dismissal of the GOP-appointed members.
“These rule changes in no way affect people’s right to vote, nor do they impose an undue burden on poll workers,” Josh McKoon, chairman of the Republican Party in the US state of Georgia, wrote in a statement, reiterating that party leadership stands behind Republican members.
Several members of local election committees have already declined to certify this spring’s primary elections.
Attempts to block the certification of the election results with baseless claims of widespread voter fraud have been stopped by courts or state authorities in other swing states such as Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada and Arizona. But election experts fear these attempts could damage voter confidence.
“Even if these denials are unsuccessful, every time someone refuses or blocks certification, distrust is reinforced when false information is already fueling threats and harassment against election officials,” said Lauren Miller Karalunas, an attorney at the Brennan Center for Justice.
The state election board is expected to consider further rule changes at a meeting in late September, a few weeks before early voting begins.
