Georgia's Republican-controlled elections board will go to trial on Tuesday after Democrats sued to block a last-minute rule change that could delay the certification of November's vote. Reuters reported.
In a 3-2 vote last month, the Georgia Election Board, led by allies of former President Donald Trump, approved a rule allowing county election board members to conduct an unspecified “reasonable investigation” of the election results before reviewing them confirm. Democrats filed a lawsuit arguing that the rules conflict with state law, which requires officials to certify elections by a certain date.
“According to their drafters, these rules are based on the assumption that a county executive’s certification of election results is discretionary and subject to discretionary investigations that can delay certification or make it entirely optional,” the Democrats claimed in one meager before the trial, USA Today reported.
Democrats are demanding that Judge Robert CI McBurney issue a “declaratory judgment” to make clear that the state’s Nov. 12 certification deadline is mandatory and that no new rule can change that. The judge will decide the case without a jury next week.
Separately, Democrats are also suing over another delayed rule change that would require election workers in Georgia to count ballots by hand, the Associated Press reported.
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