Georgia Supreme Court to consider new GOP-backed ballot rules after judge strikes down

The Georgia Supreme Court is reviewing a judge’s decision to nullify new rules, including a hand-count ballot measure, passed by the Republican-majority State Elections Board (SEB).

The Peach State’s highest court said it will hear the Republican National Committee’s (RNC’s) appeal late last week after Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thomas A. Cox, Jr. ruled the measures were “illegal, unconstitutional, and void.”

The RNC filed a subsequent request asking the court to temporarily block Cox’s ruling and allow the rules to go into effect while the decision was weighed, according to Democracy Docket. 

His decision covered a requirement for ballots at each precinct to be hand counted by three separate county officials to ensure the total matches the machine-tabulated number, as well as a provision directing county boards to certify election results only after “a reasonable inquiry” into their accuracy, among others.

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Georgia is weighing new elections’ measures as early voting is underway. (Getty Images)

Plaintiffs in the case included civil rights groups like the Georgia State Conference of the NAACP and Eternal Vigilance, as well as a current and a former state official.

The state Supreme Court noted it “lacks jurisdiction over this motion” but said it would take the case due to the “issues of gravity and public importance” it presents. The RNC and its allies, including the Georgia state GOP, requested an emergency expedition of the appeals process.

It comes as Election Day approaches in exactly two weeks, though Georgia has already shattered early voting records just seven days after the process began last Tuesday.

The SEB voted to pass the rules in a 3-2 decision on Sept. 20, with three Republican-appointed members voting for the change and one against.

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The Georgia Supreme Court said it would hear the appeal. (Supreme Court of Georgia)

In addition to the two aforementioned rules, the SEB measures struck down by Cox included an ID requirement and heightened documentation requirements for people delivering absentee ballots to drop boxes, and a rule requiring video surveillance of drop boxes for votes cast there to be counted.

The plaintiffs in the case argued the SEB did not have the authority to make such rules.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which represented the plaintiffs in the case, said the measures were “injecting chaos into the democratic system in the immediate run-up to the November election.”

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“Early voting has begun and over 1 million Georgians have already cast their ballots. Judge Cox’s ruling prevented a rule change in the middle of the game,” the ACLU said in response to the Republicans’ appeal.

Even if the court rules in the GOP’s favor, however, the hand-count ballot rule would still be blocked due to a separate Fulton County Superior Court ruling temporarily delaying its implementation. Another earlier ruling mandated that the elections must be certified by a certain date, regardless of county officials’ inquiries.

Democrats had accused the GOP officials of trying to sow doubt and chaos in the election process with the new rules.

The RNC, led by Chair Michael Whatley, filed an emergency appeal in the case. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Republican skeptics, including State Secretary Brad Raffensperger, have argued their implementation is unworkable this close to the election.

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However, party officials like Georgia GOP Chairman Josh McKoon argued the rules are necessary guardrails to ensuring election security.

“If his decision were upheld, it would severely curtail the ability of the state elections board to regulate our elections and to do the job,” McKoon said.

The Harris campaign referred Fox News Digital to a response to an earlier ruling temporarily blocking the hand-count ballot rule when asked for comment, “From the beginning, this rule was an effort to delay election results to sow doubt in the outcome…We will continue fighting to ensure that voters can cast their ballot knowing it will count.”