Georgia State Election Board votes in favor of hand counting all ballots, spurring fears about November chaos

The Georgia State Election Board voted Friday in favor of hand counting all ballots in the election in November, which could lead to a delay in the reporting of Georgia’s election results. 

The board, which has a three-member pro-Trump majority, took up the proposal to require a hand count of ballots by precincts, in addition to the machine counts already in place. Under the proposal, the poll manager and two poll officers would unseal ballot boxes, count the ballots, compare them to the machine count and resolve any discrepancies between the two.

Proponents say this will make state elections more secure and transparent, but the board’s chair, John Fervier, cautioned against passing the rule. He said the board was putting itself in legal jeopardy because it lacks the statutory authority to implement the measure and says it’s an issue that should be decided by the Georgia Legislature. 

During the nearly eight-hour board meeting, election workers raised the challenges the hand counts would create for them, mentioning fatigue and the additional funding that would be needed.

In a statement after the vote on the rule change, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said that the state attorney general stated “that these rules would not withstand a legal challenge,” and he said, “I have worked every day to strengthen Georgia’s election law to ensure our elections remain safe, secure, and free.”

In August, Raffensperger, the state’s top elections official, said that it was a “misguided” effort that would delay the reporting of election results and introduce risks to chain of custody procedures.

“Activists seeking to impose last-minute changes in election procedures outside of the legislative process undermine voter confidence and burden election workers,” Raffensperger said in his August statement.

The board tabled a proposal to require hand counting during the early voting period, 4-1. Board member Janelle King said she was concerned about making this change so close to the election but said she’d consider it for 2025. 

Four years ago, Georgia was at the center of former President Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn his loss to Democrat Joe Biden. Many Democrats in the battleground state believe Trump-aligned Republicans are laying the groundwork for another attempt to undermine the vote, if Trump narrowly loses in November, this time by manipulating election rules.

Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock, a Democrat, said Thursday of the election board, “They are fully trying to set up a scenario in which they could refuse to certify an election whose results they don’t like.” 

The turmoil springs from a takeover of the Georgia State Election Board earlier this year by Trump allies after Republican lawmakers yanked the secretary of state, who had resisted Trump’s efforts to subvert the election in 2020, off the panel. The new majority started making election rule changes that have alarmed Democrats, legal experts and democracy advocates.

One change provides for an undefined “reasonable inquiry” before county election officials certify results, while another allows county election officials “to examine all election related documentation created during the conduct of elections.” Critics say these rules could be used by county officials who want to refuse certification, igniting a legal firestorm at a time when statewide results would need to be certified.

The board considering several other additional rules Friday, but voted to table most of them. The board members who pushed the changes said they’re trying to ensure the accuracy of the vote, and they dismissed concerns about attempts to delay or block certification.

“The possibility of that happening now that they have more information is just not likely,” board member King said. “It’s creating a narrative that doesn’t exist.”

The controversy playing out in Georgia has national implications, since the presidential race is expected to be narrowly decided by voters there and in six other battleground states. Disrupting certification of election results, a once routine process that Trump politicized through his lies about the 2020 election, could hinder states’ ability to meet deadlines for their electoral votes to be counted.

But some legal experts say the doomsday scenario of Republican-dominated local election boards refusing to certify vote counts and preventing Georgia from certifying its totals by an early December deadline is improbable. State law and court precedent state that county officials can’t unilaterally discard votes or insert “shall certify” by deadlines written into state law, no matter how much local board members might distrust their results.

“There is no wiggle room for local certifying officials to take matters into their own hands,” said Lauren Miller Karalunas, a legal historian at New York University’s Brennan Center. “Their only duty during certification is to sign off on the completeness of the results.”

The state board has no direct role in determining election results, but instead writes rules to ensure that elections run smoothly and hears complaints about violations.

Democratic anxiety over the board majority and its actions grew after Trump praised the majority members by name during an Aug. 3 rally in Atlanta, calling them “pit bulls fighting for honesty, transparency and victory.”

There was no widespread fraud in Georgia’s 2020 elections. While Atlanta’s Fulton County has admitted double-scanning some ballots during a 2020 recount, those errors benefited Trump. Georgia’s votes for president were counted three times, including one by hand, and each affirmed Democrat Joe Biden’s win. Recounts, reviews and audits in the other battleground states where also clearly affirmed Trump’s loss.

In a lawsuit seeking to declare the rules invalid, Democrats argue the state election board exceeded its legal authority. A trial is set for Oct. 1. A conservative group led by a former Republican state lawmaker also has filed a lawsuit saying the board is improperly using rules to encroach on the Legislature’s authority to make laws.

Opponents of the board’s majority also are trying to get Republican Gov. Brian Kemp to remove the three Trump-aligned members, alleging ethics violations. The governor so far hasn’t acted.

Some Republicans argue that county election boards can decline to certify election results. A Republican-appointed Fulton County board member is asking a judge to affirm that position in a lawsuit. But court decisions in Georgia and nationwide say officials can’t refuse.

“That has been asked and answered hundreds and hundreds of times over more than a century,” said Karalunas of the Brennan Center.

Certifying Georgia’s statewide vote in November is the job of Raffensperger and Kemp, not the State Election Board. Raffensperger, a Republican, has repeatedly signaled he will push counties to comply and called their duty to certify “very clear and black-letter law.”

“We fully expect them to do their job.” he said.

contributed to this report.