Georgia State Election Board Faces Barrage of Lawsuits
As six of the Georgia State Election Board’s (SEB) controversial rules take effect next week, the board is facing seven different lawsuits from Democrats, Republicans and county officials.
While the lawsuits are directed at the entire five-member board, many of the SEB’s rules have been passed with a 3-2 vote with the three MAGA members — Janice Johnston, Rick Jeffares and Janelle King — supporting them. These members have been personally praised by former President Donald Trump.
Within the past month, Georgia’s state election board has faced seven lawsuits over the board’s restrictive new rules.
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The other two members — SEB Chair John Fervier and the sole Democratic member Sara Tindall Ghazal — have staunchly opposed all of them.
The rules being challenged could delay election results and certification and may lead to election officials and members of the public spreading allegations of fraud and casting doubt on the credibility of the election.
The rules:
Hand Count Rule (Passed on Sept. 20): Requires three election workers to unseal every box of ballots printed from scanner machines at a polling location and hand count them to ensure that their counts match the machine totals. This rule will require election workers to count the total number of ballots, but not which candidate received more votes. This rule will go into effect Oct. 22.
Reconciliation Reports Rule (Passed on Sept. 20): Mandates counties to publish online reports detailing the difference between the number of total ballots cast and the total number of voters reported voting in each precinct. This rule will go into effect Oct. 22.
Reconciliation Rule (Passed on Sept. 20): Requires either each county board of elections or election workers to verify the total ballot count against tabulation tape from each individual ballot scanner in the county. This rule will go into effect Oct. 22.
Daily Reporting Rule (Passed on Sept. 20): Requires counties to issue a daily report with details of which voters have cast their votes early or through absentee ballots. This rule will go into effect Oct. 22.
Recorded Count Rule (Passed on Sept. 20): Requires an election worker and two witnesses to record the ballot count from the tabulation tape in every ballot scanner in a given polling location. This rule will go into effect Oct. 22.
Poll Watcher Rule (Passed on Sept. 20): Increases the number of designated locations where poll watchers may observe the election process. This rule will go into effect Oct. 22.
Examination Rule (Passed on Aug. 19): Allows individual county election board members to “examine all election related documentation created during the conduct of elections prior to certification of results.” This rule went into effect Sept. 16.
Reasonable Inquiry Rule (Passed on Aug. 6): States that a county board can only certify an election “after reasonable inquiry that the tabulation and canvassing of the election are complete and accurate and that the results are a true and accurate accounting of all votes cast in that election.” This rule went into effect Sept. 4.
Drop Box Rule (Passed on Aug. 6): Requires voters who drop off an absentee ballot at a drop box location to provide a signature, photo ID, and, if applicable, evidence of their relationship to the person whose ballot they are submitting. This rule went into effect Sept. 4.
The Surveillance Rule (Passed on Aug. 6): Requires video surveillance at ballot drop boxes and states that ballots placed in non-monitored drop boxes should not be counted. This rule went into effect Sept. 4.
Lawsuits the Georgia SEB faces:
Abhiraman v. State Election Board
Status: A bench trial was held on Oct. 1, and the parties await a decision.
The Democratic National Committee (DNC), the Democratic Party of Georgia, a Democratic candidate for the Georgia House of Representatives, local election officials and voters sued the SEB over the Reasonable Inquiry Rule and Examination Rule.
The Democrats argued that these two rules violate Georgia laws requiring election officials to certify results by the statewide deadline and that the certification of election results is a mandatory duty and election superintendents don’t have the discretion to delay certification or not to certify at all.
The plaintiffs asked the Superior Court of Fulton County to invalidate the rules or declare that they can only be followed in a way that doesn’t interfere with election officials’ mandatory duties under the law. They also urged the court to clarify that all county election officials must certify the 2024 election results by 5 p.m. on Nov. 12.
Eternal Vigilance Action v. State of Georgia
Status: A hearing is scheduled in the case for Wednesday.
Eternal Vigilance Action, former Georgia State House Rep. Scott Turner (R) and Chatham County Election Board member James Hall (R) filed a lawsuit against the board over the Reasonable Inquiry Rule and Examination Rule, along with the Drop Box Rule and Surveillance Rule.
In an amended complaint on Sept. 25, the plaintiffs stated that they are also challenging the Hand Count Rule, Poll Watcher Rule and Daily Reporting Rule.
The GOP plaintiffs argued that the unelected board members’ rules are “an unconstitutional delegation of legislative authority.” Also, they claimed that the rules violate state laws regarding certification and early and absentee voting.
The plaintiffs asked the Superior Court of Fulton County to strike down these new rules and all SEB rules as unconstitutional and block the state of Georgia and the SEB from enforcing them.
Cobb County Board of Elections and Registration v. State Election Board
Status: A hearing is scheduled in the case for Tuesday.
The Cobb County Board of Elections and Registration sued the board to challenge the Hand Count Rule, Poll Watcher Rule, Daily Reporting Rule, Reconciliation Reports Rule, Reconciliation Rule, and the Recorded Count Rule, which were all passed on Sept. 20.
The county elections board alleged that these rules conflict with state election laws, adding unnecessary and burdensome requirements to the election process. In violation of the Georgia Administrative Procedures Act (APA), the SEB didn’t fully consider public comments at its Sept. 20 meeting and exceeded its authority by passing six unreasonable election rules set to take effect only 22 days before the 2024 election, the county board argued.
The plaintiff asked the Superior Court of Fulton County to invalidate the rules and block the SEB from enforcing them. The board specifically asked the court to decide this case on an expedited basis.
Crawford v. State Election Board
Status: A hearing is scheduled in the case for Wednesday.
The DNC, the Democratic Party of Georgia and county election officials sued the board challenging the Hand Count Rule.
The plaintiffs argued that the SEB has usurped the legislature’s power in passing this rule and claimed that the board doesn’t have the authority to pass a rule so close to an election when poll workers have already been trained and voters have begun casting ballots.
Additionally, the board violated the state’s APA, which requires state agencies to provide advanced public notice during the rulemaking process, the plaintiffs argued.
The Democrats asked the Superior Court of Fulton County to invalidate the Hand Count Rule and permanently block the board from enforcing it.
Muscogee County Board of Elections and Registration v. State Election Board
Status: The plaintiff filed its petition on Oct. 9.
The Muscogee County Board of Elections and Registration brought a legal challenge against the Hand Count rule.
The county elections board argued that this rule is invalid because it conflicts with numerous state election laws. Also, the board argued that it violates the state’s APA because the SEB failed to fully consider public comments or provide responses to specific objections to the rule during the rulemaking process, and it will impose significant administrative burdens on county boards of election.
The county board asked the Superior Court of Muscogee County to declare the rule invalid and block the SEB from enforcing it.
The Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections v. State of Georgia
Status: The plaintiff filed its complaint on Oct. 7.
The Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections sued over the SEB’s proposed plan to appoint its own election monitors to observe Fulton County’s election process during the November election and require the county to pay for these hand-picked monitors.
The county board argued that the plan violates Georgia election law, which doesn’t give the SEB the authority to force county boards of election to accept or pay for election monitors appointed by the SEB.
The board asked the Superior Court of Fulton County to block the SEB from appointing election monitors to observe the election process in Fulton County during the upcoming election.
Thurmond v. State Election Board
Status: The plaintiffs filed their petition on Oct. 2.
DeKalb County, along with the county’s CEO Michael Thurmond (D) and its board of registration and elections, petitioned a court to block the SEB’s Hand Counting Rule, Poll Watcher Rule and Daily Reporting Rule.
The county officials argued that these rules conflict with state election laws because they add unnecessary and burdensome requirements to the election process. They argued that the SEB violated the state’s APA because the board members didn’t fully consider public comments concerning the new rules and exceeded its authority by passing three unreasonable election rules set to take effect only three weeks before the November election.
The plaintiffs asked the Superior Court of Dekalb County to invalidate these rules and block the SEB from enforcing them.
This article was updated on Oct. 15 to reflect that the six rules passed on Sept. 20 will go into effect on Oct. 22, not Oct. 14.
Democracy Docket will update the status of these cases as litigation continues.