Summary
The Georgia State Election Board passed the rule 3-2. Nationally prominent conservative activists spoke in support of it. The leader of a liberal Washington-based watchdog organization spoke in opposition.
The State Election Board’s Monday meeting comes on the heels of a vote less than two weeks before. The vote empowered county election board members to conduct “reasonable inquiry” into allegations of voting irregularities. That rule did not set deadlines for how long such inquiries might last or describe what they might entail.
Until 2020, the certification of elections was a noncontroversial part of running them. ProPublica has previously reported how these disruptions revealed weaknesses in the nation’s electoral system.
The State Election Board received the proposed rule in April from a former member of the Fulton County elections board. The Election Research Institute is led by Heather Honey, a conservative activist.
Nuriddin eventually withdrew her submission. She would not say why. An almost identical submission was provided to the board at about the same time.
The five-person board, which has four Republicans on it, voted the proposal down unanimously. It offered to have two members work with supporters to refine the rule for future consideration.
In June, a conservative activist resubmitted the rule with only minor updates. In his place, the speaker appointed Janelle King. King is a conservative podcaster and panelist on a Georgia politics TV show.
The six experts listed off numerous scenarios in which small discrepancies that do not impact the outcome of the election regularly occur. According to the experts, election laws across America do not allow minor discrepancies to halt the certification process.
Georgia law says certification of votes is mandatory. Attempts by county board members not to certify votes would prompt interested parties to seek a writ of mandamus.
