Chaos swirls around Georgia election board, election measures

The Georgia State Election Board has faced backlash and lawsuits over the last few months, especially after passing a number of election rules just weeks before Election Day.

The Republican-majority board had a win this week though when a Fulton County judge dismissed a lawsuit on Wednesday put forward by Democrats.

The party sued to force Republican Gov. Brian Kemp to launch an ethics investigation into the board, which could lead to the impeachment of board members, after he refused to consider the complaints. Fulton County Chief Superior Court Judge Ural Glanville ruled the governor can not be compelled to open ethics complaints.

Georgia is one of seven consensus swing states and will play a critical role in the 2024 presidential election. President Joe Biden won the state by 0.2% – about 11,000 votes – in 2020, one of two times since 1980 the Democratic candidate has carried the state.

The board says the election measures it has passed will help ensure election integrity, while Democrats say it will hinder voting.

In Georgia, early voting begins on Oct. 15.

One of the rules the board passed was to require an additional hand count of all ballots cast on Election Day, while another will allow local election board members to take “reasonable inquiry” before certifying election results.

Democrats have expressed concerns about the board’s measures.

“Last minute regulations from the Georgia State Election Board threaten the integrity of electoral processes and violate the constitutional separation of powers,” posted Right Count, an election integrity group. “Right Count is now taking action with current and former Georgia legislators to stop them.”

Republicans have supported the board’s decisions, and former President Donald Trump even praised the work of the three Republican board members at a rally in Atlanta in August.

In another controversial move, the board is continuing an investigation into the 2020 election in Fulton County, where Atlanta is located.

On Tuesday, the board voted to subpoena the election records from the county after the county and state election boards failed to reach an agreement.

Board member Dr. Janice Johnston said Fulton County had not complied with an order from the board to hire a monitoring team or answered other questions.

"The State Election Board reached out to Fulton County multiple times, attempting to establish an acceptable monitoring team," Johnston said. "Fulton County has failed to comply with that decision."

Democratic state Rep. Saira Draper spoke at Tuesday’s meeting.

"Not only is the nation watching us, the world is watching us,” Draper said. “We are amplifying lies and lies and misunderstandings, fundamental misunderstandings, of how election laws work.”

The Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections has sued the board, saying the board has “no statutory authority to force the Fulton County BRE to accept, and Fulton County to pay for, election monitors hand-picked by the State Election Board.”

The same lawsuit called out the board’s “blitz of last-minute attempts to drastically impact the imminent general election.”

On Wednesday, Muscogee County Board of Elections and Registration filed an additional lawsuit against the board’s passing of the hand-counting provision.

Unless a judge rules on the decision prior to Election Day, that rule will stand and counties are preparing to follow it.