Pro-Trump Georgia Election Board Changes Rules 45 Days Before Election

The key battleground state of Georgia’s election board voted Friday to force ballots to be hand-counted three times before a result is declared.
As one of multiple motions on changing how elections are run, less than 50 days out from the November 5 election, the new rule was passed 3-2 by the conservative-leaning panel.
The changes come after Donald Trump heavily criticized the way the state handled the 2020 election results, repeatedly and falsely claiming he won the state.
President Joe Biden narrowly won in Georgia, with 49.5 percent of the vote against Trump’s 49.2 percent.
“The purpose of the rule is to ensure the secure, transparent, and accurate counting of ballots by requiring a systematic process where ballots are independently hand-counted by three sworn poll officers,” the motion reads.
On Election Day, the poll manager and two sworn poll officers would unseal boxes, remove and record ballots and then three officers would each count all the votes.
If all three totals match, then the result would be signed off and the documents sealed again.
The method of tallying votes will stand in contrast to the way the majority of elections are managed, using tabulation machines, and could delay Georgia’s results being declared by days or even weeks, per NPR.
Other ideas, touted as ways to make the election more transparent, include expanding access to partisan poll watchers.
Newsweek reached out to the Elections Board Friday morning via email for comment.
Critics have claimed the board, which has swung more to the right, is trying to rewrite the rules to favor former president and Republican candidate Donald Trump.
In a letter Thursday, the office of Georgia’s Attorney General issued a warning that the board was pushing rules that “very likely exceed the board’s statutory authority”, while voting rights groups had also raised concerns.
“County election boards have a clear duty under Georgia law to faithfully report and timely certify their election returns,” Sophia Lakin, Director, ACLU Voting Rights Project, said in a press release last week. “The State Election Board’s last-minute rule changes inject uncertainty and confusion into certification and threaten the fundamental right to vote.”
Following the election four years ago, Trump pushed claims of voter fraud and that some voting machines were rigged, leading him to lose the state. Despite recounts and multiple court cases failing, the Republican has still warned of “cheating” this November.
The Georgia Election Integrity Coalition, which supports Trump, already made accusations of voter fraud, despite early voting not beginning in the state until October 15.
Officials in some parts of the state, and in other swing states targeted by Trump’s election fraud claims, have had to increase security for poll workers ahead of election day.
Newsweek reached out to the office of Georgia’s Attorney General via email Friday afternoon for comment.
Updated 9/20/24 1:25 p.m. ET: This story was updated with additional information.
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