The same judge in Georgia who nixed the ability of county election officials to refuse to certify elections has now paused a new rule from the Georgia State Election Board that would have required officials to hand-count the number of ballots cast at each polling place, criticizing state election officials for approving it so close to Election Day. Via CNN:
“No training has been administered (let alone developed), no protocols for handling write-in ballots … have been issued, and no allowances have been made in any county’s election budget for additional personnel and other expenses required to implement the Hand Count Rule,” Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney wrote in his order Tuesday. “The administrative chaos that will – not may – ensue is entirely inconsistent with the obligations of our boards of elections (and the SEB) to ensure that our elections are fair, legal, and orderly.”
The new hand-counting rule – which had been set to take effect October 22 – would require counties to count by hand the number of ballots cast at a polling place, to make sure it matches the number of ballots tallied by voting machines. The hand-counters, however, wouldn’t be tallying how many votes each candidate received, as that’s what the machines do.
“From the beginning, this rule was an effort to delay election results to sow doubt in the outcome, and our democracy is stronger thanks to this decision to block it. We will continue fighting to ensure that voters can cast their ballot knowing it will count,” the Harris campaign, the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Party of Georgia said in a joint statement.
