Two Georgia court rulings this past week have set back efforts by Republican activists to allow political criticism of the November election results, though the expected legal battle over the election is far from over.
Robert McBurney, a Superior Court judge in Fulton, ruled Tuesday that election officials had a legal obligation to certify an election, leaving disputes over the results and allegations of misconduct to be investigated by local prosecutors. The ruling rejected the assertion by Trump-affiliated attorneys working with Julie Adams, a Republican appointee to the Fulton Board of Elections, that election board members could exercise their discretion in the certification.
A day later, another Fulton Superior Court judge, Thomas Cox, issued a stern injunction after a brief hearing, invalidating seven rules established this year by Georgia’s State Election Commission. One of the invalidated rules required ballots to be counted by hand on election night. In a second case, election officials were able to conduct an ill-defined “reasonable inquiry” into discrepancies before issuing a certificate. And a third allegedly required election officials to turn over a trove of documents to board members for review before approval.
Related: Georgia judge blocks ballot counting rule imposed by election deniers
The rules, adopted by a three-member bloc of Trump-aligned board members on the five-member board, were “not supported by Georgia election law and, in fact, violate election law,” said the ruling, which added that the State Election Board had not the power to create rules that go beyond state law. The ruling sharply limits the state election board’s power to set further rules.
Georgia’s Republican Party said it would appeal the ruling, while voting rights groups cheered the victory.
“Removing the State Election Board’s hand count and other rules is a major victory for voters, election integrity and democracy as a whole,” said Nichola Hines, president of the League of Women Voters of Georgia, a plaintiff in the lawsuit against the elections. state election board, a statement said. “These rules were put in place with bad intentions and intended to cause chaos in Georgia’s secure election process. The League remains committed to standing up for Georgia voters every step of the way.”
Drafting the state election board rules brought them into conflict with many county election leaders, voting rights advocates and the attorney general’s office, which advised them that the rules they were considering would likely be found unconstitutional.
Janelle King, one of three board members whom Trump praised earlier this year as “pit bulls for honesty, transparency and victory” at a rally in Atlanta, defended the board’s actions in an interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on the Politically Georgia- podcast on Thursdays.
“I feel like the benefit of all of this is that I hope people see that this has never been and is not a partisan issue,” she said. “A Republican brought this case against us,” she added, referring to Scot Turner, a retired Georgia state representative who sued the board as a plaintiff.
Regarding the manual counting of ballots, King said the board’s regulations were intended to ensure an accurate vote count.
“This doesn’t mean there’s anything sinister going on,” King said. “We keep talking about human error. If we know that there will be human error, then it is important that we create rules surrounded by laws that allow us to close that gap. That’s what I thought I was doing and what I will continue to do.”
Voting rights organizations disagree with her characterization of the board’s regulations.
“The 11th-hour rules passed by the State Election Board only serve to cause disruption to the election process and confusion among voters,” said Jonathan Diaz, Campaign Legal Center director of voter advocacy and partnerships. “We are pleased that one state court has agreed to bar the hand counting rule from going into effect for the upcoming election and we encourage other courts to follow suit.”
The board itself is under fire from Democratic lawmakers, who view its members as partisan in ways that may violate the law. A lawsuit from Georgia Sen. Nabilah Islam-Parkes, former Fulton Board of Elections Chairman Cathy Woolard and newly elected Sen. Randall Mangham sought to force Gov. Brian Kemp to investigate the board for conflicts of interest and possibly remove some of its members.
Judge Ural Glanville dismissed the lawsuit earlier this month, ruling that Democrats could not simply label their allegations as “formal charges” and force the governor to take action.
The three have appealed the ruling, Mangham said.
“Look, these people clearly have conflicts of interest and ethical violations and are deliberately breaking the law,” Mangham said. He was referring to comments by a state board member, Rick Jeffares, who suggested his interest in becoming director of the regional Environmental Protection Agency to a former Trump campaign official. “This atmosphere comes from a rogue election council. Just a few rogue people. These people lining up for a job in the new government… it’s like a referee lobbying for a job in the team and then being able to call off a fair match. And then you don’t want to investigate it?”
The last-minute rule changes declared by Georgia’s judges would never have occurred under the provisions of the Voting Rights Act struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court, Mangham said. “The pre-approval requirement would prevent any of this from happening.”
