Democrats filed a lawsuit on Monday against Georgia state election officials, challenging new rules they claim could allow local officials to delay certification of November’s presidential election results. The lawsuit, submitted to the Superior Court of Fulton County by local Georgia Democratic politicians, the Democratic National Committee, and the Democratic Party of Georgia, argues that the rules approved this month by the Republican-controlled Georgia state election board aim to give individual county election officials the power to delay or cancel vote certification.
The lawsuit contends that these new rules introduce significant uncertainty into the post-election process. It warns that, if interpreted as the drafters suggest, the rules could lead to chaos by creating processes that conflict with existing legal responsibilities. The Georgia Secretary of State’s office, which oversees the election board, did not respond to requests for comment.
Last week, the five-member Georgia election board, including three conservative members supported by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, voted 3-2 to give county election board members the authority to investigate discrepancies between the number of cast ballots and the number of voters in each precinct before certification. Voting rights advocates note that such mismatches are not uncommon and rarely indicate fraud. However, they argue that the new rule could allow individual board members to intentionally delay the certification of results.
Additionally, the board recently approved a separate rule requiring county election boards to conduct a “reasonable inquiry” into any irregularities before certifying results, without defining “reasonable” or setting a specific deadline for completing the inquiry.
The Democrats’ lawsuit asserts that resolving allegations of voter fraud is the responsibility of the judicial system, not individual county election officials. Trump has falsely claimed for years that the 2020 election was rigged by fraud, including in a January 2021 phone call where he asked Georgia’s top election official, Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, to “find” enough votes to change the outcome. This call has contributed to Trump’s pending indictment on state charges.
Research consistently shows that voter fraud in the U.S. is extremely rare. Trump faces Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, in the upcoming November 5 election, with polls indicating a close race in Georgia, one of seven states likely to determine the outcome.
