Ga. counties urge state election board to stop changing rules
ATLANTA - Georgia counties are asking the state’s Election Board to stop changing the rules ahead of the November election.
“Any last-minute changes to the rules risk undermining the public’s trust in the electoral process and place undue pressure on the individuals responsible for managing the polls and istering the election,” said Georgia Association of Voter Registration and Election Officials President Travis Doss, who’s the Richmond County Board of Elections executive director.
“This could ultimately lead to errors or delays in voting, which is the last thing anyone wants,” Doss said.
“We urge the State Election Board to seriously consider the impact of further rule changes and to prioritize the integrity and smooth operation of the election,” Doss said. “Our poll workers, election s and voters deserve clarity and consistency in the rules that will guide this critical process.”
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Doss and his peers are concerned about creating unnecessary confusion for poll workers and voters.
The state Election Board has been considering a slew of rule proposals in recent months and has adopted several of them.
Board indicated Monday they’ll consider more rules at a meeting on Sept. 20.
One new rule requires county election officials to create a list of voters in any particular election and to examine them for duplicates. If any duplicate votes are found, the rule requires that an investigation be launched.
No votes would be counted from that precinct until the results of each individual investigation are presented to a county board.
Election officials across the state have expressed that the rule would prevent counties from reporting election results in a timely manner with some voter rights activists also concerned that the new rule could disenfranchise voters.
Some fear newly OK’d Ga. vote-counting rules could cause delays
The Georgia State Election Board voted Monday to approve a new rule that ers say is necessary to ensure that votes are properly counted but that critics argue could be used to cause chaos.
Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock says, “They’re preparing themselves and creating a pretext for why they shouldn’t certify an election if they don’t like the results. This is not what it means to be American. This is not who we are, this is not what the American democratic experiment in self-governance is all about.”
This new rule approval follows the approval of a rule earlier this month that requires county election officials to make a “reasonable inquiry” before certifying election results - though the rule didn’t define what that means.
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who’s a Republican, said after that rule change, “Misguided attempts by the State Election Board will delay election results and undermine chain of custody safeguards. Georgia voters reject this 11th hour chaos, and so should the unelected of the State Election Board.”
Raffensperger is referring to the fact that the State Election Board are appointed, not elected.
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The new rule change was ed in a 3-2 vote.
Election day is November 5th.
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