Election truthers in Georgia got their latest win this week when the Republican-controlled Georgia State Election Board approved another rule that gives county election officials a new way to potentially delay certification. It’s the second time this month that the Trump-friendly board has passed a rule of this type, a particularly worrying development given how close we are to the upcoming presidential election.
There may well be more to come. The board is also considering a rule that would require the hand counting of ballots at polling places. Meanwhile, its actions are meeting ferocious pushback. An association of election administrators, the Georgia Association of Voter Registration and Election Officials (GAVREO), stated this week that is “gravely concerned that dramatic changes at this stage will disrupt the preparation and training processes already in motion,” leading to mistakes and confusion. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) has slammed the board’s “11th hour” rule changes as “misguided” and likely to stoke “chaos.”
But despite the mounting criticism of the board, even from other Republicans, it seems for the moment ready to plow ahead with additional rule changes — and unlikely to roll back the ones it just approved.
“There haven’t been any consequences yet for this unconventional behavior,” Peter Simmoms, Georgia Policy Strategist at the nonpartisan group Protect Democracy, told TPM. “There’s currently no reason for the board to act any differently.”
According to the latest rule, which passed in a 3-2 vote, if there is a discrepancy between the ballot count and the number of voters, the election cannot be certified until the board investigates the discrepancy. Yet there are many innocuous reasons as to why this mismatch in numbers might occur, experts said. The rule also gives election board members the authority to “to examine all election-related documentation before certifying the results.”
Critics of the rule argue that this new rule gives bad actors an opportunity to disrupt the certification process with baseless claims of irregularities or voter fraud. It gives the board, which, according to state law, is supposed to hold largely ministerial responsibility in the certification process, an opportunity to push baseless voter fraud claims and sow seeds of distrust in the election system.
“The adoption of this rule increases the opportunity for bad actors to interfere with or delay certification,” Simmons said, “which will create confusion, decrease the public’s trust in the validity of our election results, and could jeopardize the state’s ability to meet the federal election certification deadline.”
Election integrity consultant David Levine similarly described the board’s latest effort as merely “another effort to cast doubt on a process that is largely right, accurate and verifiable.”
The passage of this latest rule comes after the board approved another, similar rule earlier this month, giving county officials the authority to not certify election results until a “reasonable inquiry” into any discrepancies in the voting process at the county level have been conducted by election officials there. As previously reported by TPM, that rule, which experts say is vague — perhaps intentionally so — makes it easier for election deniers to delay certification based on false voter fraud claims.
The board is still considering the rule that would require the hand counting of ballots at polling places.
In the GAVREO statement, released Tuesday, the group called on the Election Board to “halt the implementation of additional SEB election rules that would go into effect for the upcoming election.”
“Any last-minute changes to the rules risk undermining the public’s trust in the electoral process and place undue pressure on the individuals responsible for managing the polls and administering the election,” the president of GAVREO, W. Travis Doss, Jr. — an election official in Augusta — said in the statement.
Raffensperger similarly criticized the board’s new rules, describing them as an “effort to impose new rule making” that might cause disruption.
Simmons said that despite the criticism, the board isn’t going to be disincentivized from taking actions that, in his words “appear unlawful or against the will of the people,” until “there are real consequences for these actions. And at the moment, there does not appear to be.”
The board has support from Donald Trump himself. He recently called the three members of the board who voted in favor of this rule, as well as a similar rule earlier this month, “pitbulls, fighting for honesty, transparency, and victory.” Trump shouted out the three members by name at an Aug. 3, 2024, campaign rally in Atlanta.
The Republican National Committee, in a press release this week, also praised the election board, calling the passage of the new rule a “major win for election integrity.” The rules, chair Micheal Whatley said, are “critical to securing the election in Georgia and correcting its long history of chaos.”
That support from the highest ranks of the Republican Party, Levin said, “likely insulates the Board from much, if not all, of the criticism it is receiving for its efforts.”
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