Georgia judge blocks election rule requiring hand counting of ballots

After Georgia voters began heading to the polls Tuesday for the first day of early voting in the state, a judge enjoined election officials from moving forward with a controversial new rule that would require the hand counting of ballots when polls close on Nov. 5. 

Judge Robert McBurney called the rule “too much, too late.”

The judge expressed concern that the “11th-and-one-half hour implementation of the hand count rule” would lessen public confidence in the election results. Thousands of poll workers would be handling and counting ballots “in a manner unknown and untested in the era of ballot scanning devices,” without time for uniform training, McBurney wrote. 

“This election season is fraught; memories of January 6 have not faded away, regardless of one’s view of that date’s fame or infamy. Anything that adds uncertainty and disorder to the electoral process disserves the public,” McBurney wrote.

The judge wrote that there was “a substantial threat of irreparable harm,” if the hand count rule were to be implemented for the upcoming election.

The hand count rule and others were passed in September by the five-person State Election Board on a 3-2 vote, pushed through by a trio of supporters of former President Donald Trump. The rule would require precinct poll managers and poll officers to unseal ballot boxes and count the ballots by hand individually to ensure the tallies match the machine-counted ballot totals.

Multiple lawsuits were filed by local and national officials, and the new rules drew criticisms from members of both parties, including Georgia’s Republican attorney general and secretary of state. 

The election board in Cobb County asked a judge to strike down the new rules, which also include other new requirements for the ballot counting process.

McBurney wrote that with Election Day around the corner, “there are no guidelines or training tools for the implementation” of the rule.

The Cobb County board argued in its complaint that the new rules would “substantially alter Georgia’s election procedures on the eve of” the election. During a hearing on Tuesday, an attorney for the board asked for a temporary restraining order, saying it was too late to adequately adjust staffing and training. He added that such rules are usually implemented in years without major elections.

Lawyers arguing for the Cobb County board pointed to a Sept. 19 memorandum in which Georgia’s attorney general concluded that changing rules so close to an election could “result in voter confusion and consequent incentive to remain away from the polls.”

An attorney arguing for the state board told McBurney that and other concerns amounted to a “hypothetical, on top of conjectures, on top of speculation.”

The state board argued on Tuesday that it would not be difficult to train election workers for the new rules.

Democrats quickly lauded the decision Tuesday.

“From the beginning, this rule was an effort to delay election results to sow doubt in the outcome, and our democracy is stronger thanks to this decision to block it. We will continue fighting to ensure that voters can cast their ballot knowing it will count,” said Vice President Kamala Harris’ Principal Deputy Campaign Manager Quentin Fulks, Democratic National Committee co-executive director Monica Guardiola and Rep. Nikema Williams, who is chair of the Democratic Party of Georgia, in a joint statement.

It’s a busy week of election cases for McBurney, who on Monday issued a ruling concluding that election officials are required under Georgia law to certify election results even if they have concerns about fraud. He wrote that if such concerns arise, their job is to forward those concerns to law enforcement.

McBurney, who presided over the Georgia special purpose grand jury that in 2023 voted to recommend Trump be indicted for seeking to overturn the state’s 2020 results, is also overseeing a similar case brought by the national and state Democratic parties challenging the rules.

A hearing in that case is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.