GOP-controlled election board in Georgia passes rule that could further delay certification

By Nick Valencia, Sara Murray, Jason Morris and Jade Gordon, CNN

(CNN) — The Georgia State Election Board passed a rule Monday giving local election officials additional power to investigate ballot counts before certifying the results, a move critics say could inject chaos into the 2024 election and delay the state’s official vote count.

The “Rule for Reconciliation Prior to Certification” will allow for a hand recount of votes to ensure “the total number of ballots cast” does not exceed “the total number of persons who voted,” according to the language of the rule.

County election officials will now be allowed to investigate any possible discrepancies.

The vote was carried 3 to 2 by the five-member board.

The proposal was submitted by Salleigh Grubbs, the chair of the Cobb County Republicans, who told CNN she believes her county’s 2020 presidential election results were inaccurate without any providing any direct evidence for her claims. She denies that the rule is about trying to delay certification of the 2024 results.

“[W]e have to have assurance, as Georgians, that what we see printed on our ballot is exactly how the balance and the only way to do that is by a handwritten affiliation on the precinct level,” Grubbs said in support of the rule, during the public comment portion of the hearing.

The rule would provide a guardrail to ensure that for each one person there will only be one vote, Grubbs said.

The rule change comes amid intense scrutiny of three Republican state election board members whom critics believe are making it easier to contest the election results if former President Donald Trump once again comes up short in Georgia.

The board’s sole Democratic appointee, Sarah Tindall Ghazal, and the board’s chairman, John Fervier, voted against the rule change. Tindall Ghazal was particularly vocal about her legal concerns.

“Nothing about this changes the absolute mandatory duty to certify at the county level, seven days, six days after the election, and nobody should, should have any mistake,” she said.

The voting rights group Fair Fight claims if the rule is applied by a potentially partisan county election official, then all of Georgia’s vote count may be thrown into chaos this November statewide, potentially creating a domino effect to certifying the 2024 election nationwide.

“Trump and the MAGA operation are using the Georgia State Election Board to give the appearance of legality to their illegal scheme to obstruct certification of Georgia’s 2024 election results. Georgians, we’ll have to turn out in huge numbers to ensure their expected claims of fraud ring hollow,” Lauren Groh-Wargo, Fair Fight CEO, told CNN in a statement.

Last week, during an interview with CNN-affiliate WSB, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, voiced concern with the actions of the state election board. He has previously called the board “a mess.”

“Now the State Election Board wants to take us back in time. I guess what they want is to see is elections take until 3 a.m. like in Detroit, Michigan. We don’t want to do that in Georgia. Not on my watch,” Raffensperger said.

“What are we doing here? Today is the first day counties are accepting absentee ballot [requests]. We can’t be making these changes at the last minute. This is exactly what undermines confidence in elections,” Tindall Ghazal said.

Meanwhile, those like Grubbs who are backing the rules changes ahead of November claim they are doing so to protect the integrity of the election.

“If there is a discrepancy found, that can be noted in certification,” Grubbs told CNN.  “There’s not intent to delay certification, she said.

Responding to those claims, Tindall Ghazal asked her own question in return.

“If it were about protecting election integrity, why weren’t these rules proposed a year ago or six months ago? Counties would have had time to prepare. It is already August, and we are talking about making rules changes,” she said. “There are legality issues here and timing issues.”

“A lot of the attacks I’m hearing is centered around the idea that this particular rule, or some of these rules that were being presented, are being presented based off of us chasing some ghosts that didn’t exist, or some conspiracy theory, some hypothetical,” GOP board member Janelle King said during Monday’s board meeting. “I just want to make sure I note that several times it’s been notated that there were issues that took place in the election cycles, particularly 2020.”

Last week, Georgia’s State Election Board also approved a new rule saying that counties will now have the opportunity for a “reasonable inquiry” to ensure tabulation and canvassing of the election are complete and accurate before local election officials certify the results.

Certification is the official confirmation of voting results. It is a mandatory part of the voting process as a final check to verify the results with the secretary of state’s office.

State AG says he can’t be ordered to do another 2020 election investigation

Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, a Republican, said the State Election Board cannot direct his office to reinvestigate the 2020 presidential election, according to an official opinion issued Monday.

“The authority to investigate potential violations of the election laws rests with the SEB and not with the Attorney General. This Office is not required to conduct an investigation on its own or with outside personnel at the direction of a client agency,” Carr wrote.

The opinion from the Republican attorney general is the most prominent legal pushback the board has faced since it asked for yet another investigation of 2020 and advanced a series of measures that could be used to contest the results of the 2024 presidential election.

In a 3-2 vote earlier this month, the Trump-backed members of the election board voted to ask Carr to launch an investigation into the 2020 recount. Republicans claim that roughly 3,000 ballots were double counted in the heavily Democratic county.

An investigation by the Secretary of State’s office determined the thousands of ballots were likely double-scanned but couldn’t determine if they were counted twice. If the ballots had been double-counted, it would not have impacted the final result.

The State Election Board already reprimanded Fulton County over the issue and ordered an independent election monitor.

This story has been updated with additional developments.

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