The Georgia State Election Board voted on Friday to pass a rule that mandates all counties to hand-count ballots in the upcoming election.
The proposal requires ballots to be hand-counted by precincts in addition to machine-counting already in place. The poll manager and two poll officers will be tasked with unsealing the ballot boxes and making independent counts of the ballots. After their counts match one another, they are to compare that to the machine count and resolve any discrepancies.
‘Every time you make a statement that this could be against the law, you are welcoming lawsuits.’
The rule aims to “ensure the secure, transparent, and accurate counting of ballots.”
Critics of the proposal claim it will substantially slow down the ballot-counting process, causing delays in Georgia’s election results.
Janelle King (R), a board member in support of the proposal, stated ahead of the vote on Friday, “According to our Georgia Code, the role of the state election board — part of our role — is to ‘to promulgate rules and regulations to define uniform and nondiscriminatory standards.’”
“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. We would not be breaking any statutes,” King noted.
The board’s chair, John Fervier (R), who opposed adopting the new rule, pushed back on King’s statements.
Fervier said, “It says in accordance to the rule and with existing statute, I believe. And if there’s no statute support for this —”
“Can you show that to me, Mr. Chairman?” King asked.
“Did you read the attorney general’s opinion?” Fervier asked King, after appearing to sigh and drop his hands on the table in frustration.
“I’m not talking about the attorney general’s opinion. I’m talking about what is in our Georgia election code book,” King responded.
As his last comment before proceeding with the vote, Fervier stated that the board voting for the rule would be “going against the advice of our legal counsel.”
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr (R) previously claimed that the proposal was “not tethered to any statute — and [is], therefore, likely the precise type of impermissible legislation that agencies cannot do.” Carr also expressed concerns that such changes are too close to the upcoming November election.
“Mr. Chairman, I have to point out, that every time you make a statement that this could be against the law, you are welcoming lawsuits,” King stated.
The audience cheered in response to King’s statement.
“Lawsuits that we know will be dismissed,” King continued. “I just read in our code what we can and can’t do. Undisputed. So I just want to be on record stating that I really am getting a little tired of encouraging lawsuits.”
“I will not correct your comments,” Fervier replied.
Following the exchange, the board proceeded with a voice vote and passed the rule 3-2.
Sara Tindall, a Democrat on the board who voted with Fervier to reject the measure, told CNN, “Everyone that I have heard from personally is against it.”
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger claimed the rule “would not withstand a legal challenge.”
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