A judge in Georgia has invalidated several new election rules, including requirements for a “reasonable inquiry” before elections are certified, hand-counting ballots on election night, and more access for partisan poll watchers.
On Wednesday, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thomas Cox Jr. declared the rules “illegal, unconstitutional and void” after they were passed by the State Election Board’s Republican majority.
Cox, responding to a lawsuit filed against the board, said that the politically appointed officials overstepped their authority in setting election procedures when elected representatives have the power to do so. Two Republicans, former state Rep. Scot Turner and Chatham County election board member James Hall, filed the lawsuit.
“The Georgia Constitution provides that only the General Assembly may provide for a law for a procedure whereby returns of all elections by the people are made to the Secretary of State,” Cox wrote in his 11-page order. “The Election Code accomplishes this and the SEB has no authority to legislate otherwise.”
An attorney representing the Republicans opposing the rules matched the judge’s observation.
“Three members of the State Election Board, kind of like Napoleon, they put a crown on their head and said, ‘We are the emperors of elections.’ That is not the way our system of government works,” Chris Anulewicz said. “The State Election Board cannot play in this space, and yet they did it anyway.”
An attorney for the Georgia Republican Party disagreed, arguing the State Election Board’s members could legally pass statewide rules to help secure elections.
“The majority of this election board has identified that having this reconciliation process is important. That was a priority,” Brad Carver, an attorney for the Georgia Republican Party, said. “The General Assembly can’t foresee every particular circumstance in a changing environment. That’s why we have executive branch agencies in the first place. They’re the subject matter experts.”
The aim of the lawsuit was to protect voting rights and to preserve the separation of powers, Turner said.
“The State Election Board is not elected by anybody. They’re appointed unelected bureaucrats that have taken the role of the Legislature upon themselves. It’s not acceptable in our form of government,” he said.
The state Democratic Party supported the two Republicans’s lawsuit, with an attorney for them saying the rule mandating a hand count “will lead to chaos.”
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The judge’s decision comes soon after Georgians broke records during the first two days of early voting in the state, with turnout expected at around 600,000 at the end of Wednesday.
Georgia was a closely contested state in the 2020 presidential election and is expected to be close again in 2024. Former President Donald Trump tried to overturn the state’s election results in 2020 after losing to President Joe Biden, telling Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” 11,780 votes.
