Georgia Judge Blocks Controversial Hand-Count Rule for Election Day Ballots
A Georgia judge has issued a significant ruling that blocks a newly proposed rule mandating that ballots submitted on election day be counted by hand after polls close. This decision has been celebrated as a victory for Democrats and voting rights advocates who have raised concerns about the potential for disruptions during the upcoming U.S. presidential election.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney made this ruling just a day after he ordered county election officials to certify election results by the state’s legal deadline. This order prevents any refusal to certify based on unfounded allegations of fraud. The hand-counting rule was introduced by the State Election Board with the intention of requiring three poll workers to manually tally ballots once voting concluded.
However, Judge McBurney determined that the rule was introduced too late and lacked essential guidelines, adequate training, and budgetary provisions. He warned that implementing such a measure could create a scenario of “administrative chaos” in an election that is only weeks away.
These rulings have been hailed by Democratic organizations and the campaign team of Vice President Kamala Harris as critical for ensuring that the election proceeds smoothly and according to schedule, particularly as early in-person voting has already commenced in the state. Critics argue that the hand-count rule was deliberately designed to delay the reporting of election results and to sow doubt about the integrity of the outcome, especially if former President Donald Trump were to lose to Harris in the forthcoming election.
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McBurney’s rulings come amidst widespread apprehension that rules endorsed by Trump and established by the State Election Board could be exploited to obstruct or postpone the certification of election results. This mirrors the former president’s previous attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The judge emphasized that Georgia law does not grant county election officials the authority to refuse certification or to unilaterally determine whether fraud has occurred; their role is limited to reporting any concerns to the appropriate authorities.
This decision is part of a broader wave of legal challenges surrounding new election regulations enacted by the State Election Board since August, further complicating the lead-up to next month’s presidential election. Georgia was a focal point for the Trump campaign, which launched numerous baseless lawsuits and propagated false claims of widespread fraud following Trump’s loss to Joe Biden in 2020. Ultimately, these efforts were unsuccessful. Simultaneously, Trump is currently facing a criminal indictment in Georgia over allegations that he attempted to pressure state officials to “find” enough votes to alter the election outcome in his favor.
