GOP-controlled election board in Georgia passes rule that could further delay certification

[Elderberry]

CNN By Nick Valencia, Sara Murray, Jason Morris and Jade Gordon 8/19/2024

The Georgia State Election Board passed a rule Monday giving local election officials additional power to investigate ballot counts before certifying the results, a move critics say could inject chaos into the 2024 election and delay the state’s official vote count.

The “Rule for Reconciliation Prior to Certification” will allow for a hand recount of votes to ensure “the total number of ballots cast” does not exceed “the total number of persons who voted,” according to the language of the rule.

County election officials will now be allowed to investigate any possible discrepancies.

The vote was carried 3 to 2 by the five-member board.

The proposal was submitted by Salleigh Grubbs, the chair of the Cobb County Republicans, who told CNN she believes her county’s 2020 presidential election results were inaccurate without any providing any direct evidence for her claims. She denies that the rule is about trying to delay certification of the 2024 results.

“[W]e have to have assurance, as Georgians, that what we see printed on our ballot is exactly how the balance and the only way to do that is by a handwritten affiliation on the precinct level,” Grubbs said in support of the rule, during the public comment portion of the hearing.

The rule would provide a guardrail to ensure that for each one person there will only be one vote, Grubbs said.

The rule change comes amid intense scrutiny of three Republican state election board members whom critics believe are making it easier to contest the election results if former President Donald Trump once again comes up short in Georgia.

The board’s sole Democratic appointee, Sarah Tindall Ghazal, and the board’s chairman, John Fervier, voted against the rule change. Tindall Ghazal was particularly vocal about her legal concerns.

More: https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/19/politics/georgia-election-board-meeting/index.html

[Elderberry]

How a Far-Right Takeover of Georgia’s Election Board Could Swing the Election

New York Times By Nick Corasaniti 8/19/2024

The unelected body that shapes voting rules has a new conservative majority who question the state’s 2020 results. They now have new power to influence the results in 2024.

Josh McKoon, the chair of the Georgia Republican Party, boasted at the state convention in late May that he had “very good news.”
Georgia Republicans had just orchestrated a takeover of the state election board, an unelected body that sets voting rules. With this new majority, Republicans could enact an agenda that would help former President Donald J. Trump win in November, Mr. McKoon said.

“I believe when we look back on Nov. 5, 2024, we’re going to say getting to that 3-2 election-integrity-minded majority on the state election board made sure that we had the level playing field to win this election,” he said.

Since the takeover, the Georgia State Election Board has approved a host of rules on certifications and investigations backed by right-wing election activists who claim, falsely, that the 2020 election was stolen from Mr. Trump. The moves underscore a sharp rightward turn for what is supposed to be an apolitical body and have alarmed Democrats, election officials and even some Republicans.

“Clearly, the Trump allies have learned their lessons from the failure of the attempted coup of 2020, and they’re starting earlier and attempting to burrow more deeply into the most vulnerable pieces of the election system,” said Norm Eisen, a longtime Washington lawyer and chair of the State Democracy Defenders Fund, a nonpartisan election watchdog group.

More: https://archive.is/Z8SnA#selection-959.0-959.358