Judge considers forestalling potential chaos from Georgia election board's late rule changes
Source: USA Today
Published 5:11 a.m. ET Oct. 1, 2024 | Updated 12:58 p.m. ET Oct. 1, 2024
The Georgia State Election Board and state Republicans went to trial Tuesday in their fight against Democrats' effort to get a judge to declare that county election boards must certify the upcoming election's results by the November deadline set under Georgia law.
The Democratic National Committee and Democratic Party of Georgia sued the state election board after it passed two rules in August that increase local officials' powers and responsibilities before the Nov. 12 county certification deadline. While the rules don't change the deadline, Democrats fear local officials will point to the rules in order to refuse to certify the results on time.
The state board, the Georgia Republican Party, the Republican National Committee, and the Democrats all agreed at the outset of Tuesday's proceedings that county election boards are legally required to certify results by 5 p.m. EST on Nov. 12 – about a week after Election Day. And yet they maintained their disagreement over whether Judge Robert C. I. McBurney could officially say so ahead of the upcoming presidential contest.
Arguing on behalf of Democrats, lawyer Kurt G. Kastorf said his clients are concerned that, without a court ruling to the contrary, county officials who don't believe they can properly determine a particular vote should count might conclude under the new rules that they should exclude the vote from the certification total or should refuse to vote for certification.
Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/10/01/georgia-election-board-republicans-democrats-trial/75455177007/
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Hoping the ruling is favorable. It seems that most, including the GOP SOS, believe the board has gone too far.
