Sept 20 (Askume) – Georgia’s Republican-controlled State Election Board is expected to vote on Friday to demand a labor-intensive recount of potentially millions of ballots in the November election, a move that voting rights advocates said could lead to delays, errors and set the stage for fraudulent election challenges.
Gauri Ramachandran, director of elections and security at the left-leaning New York University Brennan Center for Justice, said that if the hand-count rule is approved, Georgia would be the only US state that does not use normal procedures. Part of the counting results.
Georgia is one of seven states deciding the November 5 race between Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.
In recent months, the state’s five-member commission has passed several changes to election laws with the support of three conservative members whom Trump praises.
Civil rights groups say the changes could allow Rogue County Election Board members to delay or refuse to certify election results, leading to voting chaos across the state. Democrats have filed a lawsuit challenging both certification rules, and a state judge has scheduled a non-jury trial for October 1.
The Georgia Association of Voter Registration and Election Officials, which represents county elections officials, this week urged the commission to propose more amendments before 2025 because they say absentee ballots are already being sent to overseas and military voters.
The group also said it opposed the hand-counting proposal for several reasons, including that “the rule could delay results, set tired staff up for failure, and undermine the confidence claimed by the rule’s authors.”
The state’s top elections official, Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, raised similar objections, saying it would “create the potential for errors, lost or stolen ballots, and fraud.”
The hand count proposal is one of more than a dozen new rules the board is scheduled to discuss Friday. Any approved rules would take effect in mid-October, when early and mail-in voting also begins.
“It is too late in the elections process for counties to implement new rules and procedures,” Charlene McGowan, Raffensperger’s general counsel, wrote in a letter to the board this week. Many poll workers have already completed the required training, she said, adding that at least some of the rules being considered would illegally usurp Raffensperger’s authority.
Trump has been accused of pressuring Georgia officials to overturn the results of the failed 2020 election, though he has denied wrongdoing. He continues to make false claims about the legitimacy of US elections, prompting conservative activists and lawmakers across the country to introduce new voting restrictions in the name of preventing fraud.
Under the hand-count rules, three poll workers at the state’s more than 6,500 polling places must open sealed ballot boxes scanned by machines and count them by hand, beginning on election night.
Under a separate rule, during early voting, which begins on October 15, any ballot box that collects more than 1,500 votes by the end of the day will be subject to the same requirements.
In 2020, nearly 5 million votes were cast in the statewide presidential race, more than half of which were early votes.
Mark Lindemann, director of policy and strategy at Verified Voting, said the use of hand recounts in some states during recounts in close elections or as part of routine post-election audits supports the responsible use of technology in elections. Some smaller jurisdictions use hand recounts instead of voting machines.
Supporters of the hand-count rule say it will ensure the accuracy of machine-scanned ballots.
“This is just ensuring consistency between the electronic record and the ballot,” board member Janice Johnston said at last month’s board meeting.
Supporters of voting rights say it would have the opposite effect.
“That makes it less safe for people to open these boxes, take out ballots and sort them into piles,” Ramachandran said.
Experts say Georgia has robust procedures in place to ensure an accurate count, including comparing the number of ballots scanned, the number of ballots printed and the number of voters who signed in. Additionally, the state conducts post-election audits to check for any errors.
