A Georgia judge is set to consider Tuesday a challenge to new rules implemented by the state’s Republican-controlled elections board, as Democrats seek to strike down last-minute changes they say would be costly. These are designed to undermine confidence in the results of the November 5 US election. ,
In August the Georgia Board of Elections empowered county election board members to investigate discrepancies between the number of ballots cast and voters in each precinct and to examine election-related documents before certifying their results. Its 3-2 vote was driven by three allies of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who lost Georgia to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020 and false claims of widespread voting fraud.
Georgia is one of seven closely contested states that are expected to decide the outcome of the presidential race Democrat Kamala Harris And Republican Donald Trump.
The non-jury trial before Judge Robert McBurney in Fulton County Superior Court in Atlanta does not involve any other controversial policy moves by the board. Democrats filed a lawsuit Monday to block the board’s Sept. 20 decision to require hand counting of ballots.
Republican Brad Raffensperger, who as secretary of state is Georgia’s top elections official, said the board’s “11th-hour” change would undermine voter confidence and burden election workers.
A majority of the board said the various new rules are intended to make elections more secure and transparent. Trump, who is seeking a return to the presidency, has praised his three aides on the board as “pit bulls.”
The national and state Democratic parties sued the Georgia Board of Elections on August 26, seeking to invalidate the August rules and declare that the state’s election results do not have to be certified until November 12, a week after Election Day. Needed
“These new requirements introduce significant uncertainty into the post-election process,” the Democrats wrote in their Aug. 26 petition launching the lawsuit.
Elections board lawyers said the new rules do not allow election administrators to delay certification, dismissing Democratic concerns as speculation that the investigation by the panel could be delayed.
Democrats argued in a filing that the new rules would “invite chaos” by giving county-level officials the license to look for alleged fraud and potentially delay certification. He said certification of election results is mandatory under state law, and other avenues exist to contest disputed results.