FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — With early voting in Georgia already underway, a Fulton County judge has halted any enforcement of a new election rule regarding hand-counting ballots.
According to a Tuesday court filing, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney ruled to stop implementation of the hand count rule.
This comes after the State Election Board last month passed the rule requiring that three poll workers each count the paper ballots — not votes — by hand after the polls close. The Cobb County Election Board then filed a lawsuit seeking to have a judge declare that rule and five others recently passed by the state board invalid, saying they exceed the state board’s authority, weren’t adopted in compliance with the law and are unreasonable.
In McBurney's ruling, he said that the hand count rule is "too much, too late" to enforce with how close election day is and halted it as he considers the merit of the case. Currently, there are no guidelines or training tools for the implementation of this rule. In addition, if the rule went into effect as scheduled, it would do so right before election day.
"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," McBurney wrote.
McBurney also said that in his order the public is not disserved by pressing pause on the rule going into effect. He stated that on paper, the rule appears to be consistent with the State Election Board's mission to ensure fair, legal and orderly elections since it is human confirmation that machine counts match reality. However, he argued that the timing of the passage of the rule is what currently confronts Georgians.
"The election season is fraught; memories of January 6 have not faded away, regardless of one's view of that date's fame and infamy," he wrote. "Anything that adds uncertainty and disorder to the electoral process disserves the public."
McBurney also ruled in a separate case that “no election superintendent (or member of a board of elections and registration) may refuse to certify or abstain from certifying election results under any circumstance.” While they are entitled to inspect the conduct of an election and to review related documents, he wrote, “any delay in receiving such information is not a basis for refusing to certify the election results or abstaining from doing so.”
Georgia law says county election superintendents — generally multimember boards — “shall” certify election results by 5 p.m. on the Monday after an election, or the Tuesday if Monday is a holiday as it is this year.
Multiple election rules that were passed by the State Election Board since August have generated a crush of lawsuits. McBurney earlier this month heard a challenge to two rules having to do with certification brought by the state and national Democratic parties. Another Fulton County judge is set to hear arguments in two challenges to rules on Wednesday — one brought by the Democratic groups and another filed by a group headed by a former Republican lawmaker. And separate challenges are also pending in at least two other counties.
With this measure blocked, Georgia should now see election results come in much faster on Election Night.