A Fulton County Superior Court judge has invalidated seven changes to state election laws the Republican-controlled State Election Board (SEB) adopted in recent weeks.
In an 11-page ruling handed down this week, Judge Thomas Cox Jr. declared the board lacked the legal authority to adopt the rules.
“All rules enacted by the SEB must be consistent with the Existing Election Code and the Georgia Constitution,” Cox wrote. “Stated another way, the SEB’s authority can only extend to ‘adopt rules and regulations to carry into effect a law already passed’ or otherwise ‘administer and effectuate an existing enactment of the General Assembly.’ “
Cox’s ruling, dated Wednesday, came in a lawsuit filed by Eternal Vigilance Action, a Georgia-based advocacy group headed by former Republican state Rep. Scot Turner.
It followed two similar decisions handed down earlier in the week by Fulton Judge Robert McBurney that invalidated two of the new SEB rules requiring counties to hand-count the number of ballots cast at polling places on Election Day and allowing local election officials to delay certifying results in order to conduct a “reasonable inquiry” if they suspect voter fraud. McBurney wrote that the rules were adopted too close to Election Day.
Wednesday’s ruling applied to both of those rules in addition to five others the SEB’s three-member Republican majority has passed since August that would:
- give county election board members access to all election-related documentation created as the election was being conducted.
- require signatures and photo IDs to accompany absentee ballots.
- provide video surveillance and recording of absentee ballot drop boxes after the polls close.
- expand designated areas for poll watchers.
- add new requirements for county election boards in reporting absentee ballot information.
The three Republican SEB members who supported the rules changes said they would restore public confidence by restoring fairness and integrity to the electoral process.
But opponents – including Democrats and some Republicans – accused the three of seeking to sow confusion into the counting of ballots by delaying certification of results, potentially to the benefit of former President Donald Trump.
Georgia First, a bipartisan nonprofit group that supports election access and security, praised this week’s rulings.
“As a lifelong Georgian and Republican, I, along with our cross-partisan Georgia First board members, have been deeply troubled by the continued misconduct and ill-informed, conspiracy theory-fueled rulemaking efforts of Election Board members,” said Natalie Crawford, executive director of Georgia First and a former member of the Habersham County Commission.
“Their actions threatened to cause electoral chaos, reflect poorly on the integrity of our state’s highly regarded electoral processes, and undermine trust in our democratic institutions. Ideology is not more important than facts and the law.”
Republicans vowed to appeal the court decisions as an example of judicial overreach.
“By overturning the Georgia State Election Board’s common-sense rules passed to safeguard Georgia’s elections, the judge sided with the Democrats in their attacks on transparency, accountability, and integrity of our elections,” said Michael Whatley, chairman of the Republican National Committee. “We will not let this stand.”
