On Monday, Democrats filed a lawsuit against Georgia state election officials, claiming that new rules allowing local officials to potentially postpone the certification of the November presidential election results were unlawful. The lawsuit was submitted to the Superior Court of Fulton County by Georgia Democratic politicians, the Democratic National Committee, and the Democratic Party of Georgia. It alleges that the rules, recently approved by the Republican-controlled Georgia state election board, were designed to enable individual county election officials to delay or even cancel the certification of votes.
The lawsuit argues that these new rules "create significant uncertainty in the post-election process and, if interpreted as intended by their creators, could lead to chaos by introducing processes that conflict with existing statutory responsibilities." The Georgia Secretary of State's office, which supervises the board, has not yet responded to inquiries for comment.
Last week, the five-member Georgia election board, including three conservative members supported by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, voted 3-2 to grant county election board members the authority to investigate any discrepancies between the number of ballots cast and the number of voters in each precinct before certification. Such discrepancies are not unusual and are generally not indicative of fraud, according to voting rights advocates, who believe this rule could allow individual board members to deliberately delay the approval of results.
Additionally, the board has recently approved another rule requiring county election boards to conduct a "reasonable inquiry" into any irregularities before certifying results. However, the rule does not define what constitutes a "reasonable" inquiry or set a specific deadline for completing such inquiries. The Democrats' lawsuit asserts that it is established law that the judicial system, not individual county election officials, is responsible for addressing allegations of voter fraud.
Trump has persistently and falsely claimed that the 2020 election was rigged through fraud. His controversial January 2021 phone call, during which he pressured Georgia's Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to "find" enough votes to overturn the election result, contributed to Trump's impending indictment on state charges. Trump is set to face Vice-President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, in the November 5 election. Polls indicate a tight race, with Georgia being one of seven states that could decisively influence the outcome.
