New Georgia election rules passed by Trump-backed board are unconstitutional, judge rules

A judge in Georgia has struck down a slate of controversial new election rules passed by Donald Trump allies, including two that Democrats say would inject post-election “chaos” into the critical battleground state.

Among the rules Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thomas Cox said violated state law are two that would require county election officials to conduct a “reasonable inquiry” into election results before certifying them and allow them to “examine all election related documentation created during the conduct of elections prior to certification of results.”

“The court here declares that these rules are illegal, unconstitutional and void,” Cox wrote in Wednesday’s ruling.

Georgia’s 16 electoral votes are crucial for both Trump and Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris. President Joe Biden won the state by just over 10,000 votes in 2020.

Early voting began in the Peach State on Tuesday with record turnout.

Three GOP members of the Georgia State Election Board were thrust into the spotlight after Trump mentioned them by name at a rally in Atlanta this summer.

“They’re on fire. They are doing a great job,” Trump said during his August 3 speech in Atlanta. “Three members … all pit bulls fighting for transparency, honesty and victory.”

After their passage in August, the two rules were quickly challenged by Democrats and others, who feared that that they would give officials in the state broad authority to delay or decline altogether their certification of the results in order to look for alleged election fraud or abuse.

But Cox said in his ruling that the “reasonable inquiry” rule “adds an additional and undefined step into the certification process” and that the “examination” rule “creates a statutorily unbounded scope under which (election) superintendents can consider unauthorized materials when tabulating, canvassing, and certifying election results.”

The GOP-controlled State Election Board has claimed that the rules give no discretion to county officials, but what constitutes a “reasonable inquiry” has left voting rights advocates, Democrats and others challenging the rules concerned that a partisan election county official may be able to use their discretion to reject election outcomes.

Wednesday’s ruling came in a case brought by the election advocacy group Eternal Vigilance Action.

Among the other rules Cox invalidated is one that would have required officials to hand-count the number of ballots cast at each polling place, saying Georgia law didn’t support the requirement. A different judge in the state paused the ballot hand counting rule on Tuesday in a separate challenge brought against it by Cobb County.

“The rule vastly expands the authority and obligations of poll officials in preparing ballots pre-delivery to the superintendents and pre-certification,” Cox wrote Wednesday.

This story has been updated with additional details.