Judge rejects handful of controversial rules, including hand-count rule, from Georgia board

A judge in Georgia tossed out a handful of controversial rules passed in recent months by the GOP-majority Georgia State Election Board, arguing that the board didn’t have the authority to put those rules into effect.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thomas Cox Jr. ordered seven rules that were passed by the board — some of which include requiring ballots to be hand-counted by precinct, allowing a “reasonable inquiry” to be undertaken by election workers ahead of certification and another where “all election related documentation created during the conduct of elections” could be examined by election officials — to be rejected ahead of November.

Cox argued in his ruling that the election board “has no constitutional authority to promulgate these rules because the General Assembly did not provide ‘sufficient’ or ‘realistic’ parameters around the [board’s] rulemaking here,” and “the U.S. Constitution prohibits the [board] from enacting election rules regarding the election of federal officers.”

The Georgia State Election Board has been under increasing scrutiny for passing controversial rules several months ahead of the election. Even some of the state’s top Republicans and their offices have expressed concern over some of the rulemaking, particularly the hand-count law.

The rules and Cox’s recent decision are all the more important given that Georgia is among a handful of battleground states that will determine whether former President Trump or Vice President Harris will return to the White House.

Trump won the Peach State in 2016 but narrowly lost it to President Biden in 2020. An aggregate of Georgia surveys compiled by The Hill/Decision Desk HQ shows Trump leading Harris at roughly 49 percent support to 47 percent.