Democrats File New Lawsuit Against MAGA Georgia Election Board – Mother Jones

Democrats filed a lawsuit on Monday against a new rule passed by the pro-Trump majority on the Georgia State Board of Elections that requires ballots to be counted by hand on Election Day. Democrats and voting rights groups fear it could delay election results and be used by Republican officials as an excuse not to certify a Democratic victory.

“If the hand count rule is allowed to go into effect, the general election will not be conducted in an orderly and consistent manner – large counties will face significant delays in reporting vote counts, election officials will struggle to implement new procedures at the last minute, and poll workers will “I was not trained on the new rule because it was adopted too late, and the security of the ballots themselves would be compromised,” the lawsuit filed by the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Party of Georgia states.

The hand-counting requirement was passed by the three MAGA-affiliated members of the state election board on September 20 – six weeks before the general election – despite warnings from the state’s Republican attorney general and secretary of state that it was likely illegal. County election officials also told the board that the rule could delay election results and lead to distrust in the counting process, which the Trump campaign could use as a weapon to pressure county officials not to certify the results if Kamala Harris wins the state .

The board’s MAGA majority, which praised Trump as “pit bulls” during a rally in Atlanta in August, has passed a series of controversial rule changes at the behest of election deniers that could throw the state’s vote-counting process into chaos. In August, they also passed rule changes requiring counties to conduct a “reasonable investigation” of vote totals and granting them access to “all election-related records,” which Democrats argued in a separate lawsuit would delay and result in election certification could be the “mass disenfranchisement of eligible, registered Georgians.” That lawsuit will be heard in state court on Tuesday. A Republican-led group has also filed a lawsuit challenging the new board changes.

The Harris campaign supports the Democrats’ lawsuits.

“We agree with Georgia’s Republican attorney general and secretary of state: This rule is unproductive and unlawful, and we are fighting it,” Quentin Fulks, Harris’ deputy campaign manager, said in a statement. “Democrats are stepping in to ensure Georgia voters can cast their ballots knowing they will be counted in a free and fair election.”