In a recent turn of events a Georgia judge has put a stop to election rule changes made by the Republican-controlled state board. The decision came after a conservative group filed a lawsuit arguing that these alterations could mess up voting rights before the presidential election happening in a few weeks
The case which was decided on 10/16/24 is pretty similar to another lawsuit filed by the Democratic Party. Both cases claim that the State Election Boards actions could make it harder to certify voting results in Georgia – a state thats super important for the elections outcome
Georgia is one of seven states that are expected to decide who wins the presidential race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. Its worth noting that U.S presidential elections arent decided by who gets the most votes overall but by results from each state
The board gave county election officials more power to look into differences between the number of ballots cast and voters in each precinct. They could also check out a bunch of election-related documents before certifying their results. This decision was made by a 3-2 vote with three Trump allies voting in favor
These changes have been criticized by both sides. The conservative group that started the lawsuit on 9/11/24 (Eternal Vigilance Action) said the Georgia board went beyond its legal authority. Even Brad Raffensperger‚ Georgias top election official and a Republican said these last-minute changes would make voters less confident and make things harder for election workers
The election boardʼs “11th-hour“ changes would damage voter confidence and burden election workers
Democrats are saying Republicans in different states are trying to delay or stop certification of voting results that arent good for Trump. They point out that certifying election results is required by state law and there are other ways to challenge results if theres a dispute
Its important to remember that a couple years back Trump supporters stormed the U.S Capitol trying to stop Congress from certifying the 2020 election results. Now Democrats are worried about similar attempts to mess with election results
Another rule that would have made poll workers count ballots by hand was stopped by a judge about a day ago. Democrats saw this as another attempt by Trump allies to mess with voting result certification