Judge orders pause on Georgia hand counting ballot rule shortly before it was set to take effect

A judge in Georgia ordered a pause of a new rule from the Georgia State Election Board on Tuesday that would have required each county to hand count ballots to ensure the voting machines totals at each polling place.

“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,” wrote Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney in his order.

“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 rule was set to take effect on October 22. Under the rule, the counters would make sure the total of the paper ballots matched the electronic machine total of ballots cast, not the amount of votes that each candidate received.

The Harris campaign, the Democratic National Committee and Democratic Party of Georgia applauded the order.

“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,” they said in a joint statement.