Democrats sue over controversial Georgia voting rule

Democrats filed a lawsuit Monday looking to block a controversial rule requiring ballots to be hand-counted by local precincts in Georgia, arguing it violated Georgia law and called it “improper.”

A group of Democrats, including the Democratic National Committee and Georgia Democratic Party, are bringing a lawsuit against the Georgia State Election Board after the board passed a new rule earlier this month ordering for ballots to be hand-counted in addition to their routine machine tabulation.

The lawsuit, which is backed by the Harris campaign, argues that the new rule “adds an additional hurdle to Georgia’s established process for collecting and tabulating ballots,” as poll workers will need to make sure that a machine tabulation of Election Day ballots matches a hand count done by poll workers. The lawsuit argues that if both numbers do not match, the rule makes it unclear how to actually resolve the discrepancy between the two.

Democrats also argue that the hand-count rule is unlawful, saying in their lawsuit that “it improperly adds a new requirement to the Election Code beyond what the General Assembly contemplated and conflicts with the statutes the General Assembly did enact — in particular, by shifting part of the responsibility to oversee the tabulation of ballots from the county board to workers at individual precincts,” and they argue the board “exceeded its rulemaking authority,” among other criticisms.

The lawsuit also notes that several state officials have raised concerns over the hand-count ballot rule, some of whom are Republicans: Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

“As Donald Trump invents facts to try to sow doubt in our elections, his MAGA allies in Georgia passed a new rule just weeks before Election Day that will obstruct the process of counting votes so they can complain when voters reject Trump at the polls,” Quentin Fulks, Harris-Walz campaign principal deputy campaign manager, said in a statement.

“We agree with Georgia’s Republican Attorney General and Secretary of State: This rule is unproductive and unlawful, and we are fighting it. Democrats are stepping in to ensure that Georgia voters can cast their ballots knowing that they will be counted in a free and fair election.”

This is the latest lawsuit brought by Democrats against the Georgia State Election Board over new and controversial rules they’ve passed. A bench trial pertaining to some of those contested rules kicks off Tuesday, which include allowing a “reasonable inquiry” to be made before the results of an election are certified.

Three members of the board have been lauded by former President Trump as “pit bulls fighting for honesty, transparency and victory.”