With less than 90 days left until the election, changes are slated to come to Georgia’s election process. Recently, Georgia’s Republican-controlled State Election Board voted to endorse more rule proposals, including measures submitted by the public that could become administrative rules. As of an August 6 meeting, several rules have been approved, but a number of others are still in the proposal process and up for public comment.

Below, we’ll break down one of the recently approved rules and other proposed rule changes—from requiring manual counting to authorizing local board members to certify results—and their implications. We’ll also get into the details of a recently filed lawsuit resulting from a controversial, unpublicized meeting in July.

This proposed rule concerns steps local election boards may take before certifying election results. Local election board members across Georgia will be able to review documents before they certify this fall’s presidential election. According to the rule proposal, before certifying the results, the board would compare the number of unique voters who participated to the numbers of ballots cast from each precinct. This amendment would also require local election boards to investigate discrepancies as a prerequisite of certification. The proposal was brought forth by Salleigh Grubbs, chairwoman for the Cobb County Republican Party. 

“Every vote for every voter should count right away. We can no longer allow voter suppression to continue, we must take every step to ensure that the count is right the first time—not only for accuracy but for trust in a time when most Americans distrust the election process,” Grubbs said during her presentation to the board at the Georgia Capitol.  

Some critics fear that the rule would allow partisan members to reject the results and cast doubt in the process. “Delaying or refusing certification of elections based on unfounded allegations allow only further erodes trust in the system and allows the possibility of election sabotage,” said Marisa Pyle, senior democracy defense manager at All Voting is Local, who presented in opposition to the proposal. 

On August 6, the board passed a different but related rule, known as the “reasonable inquiry” rule (initiated by the board back in May) that requires officials to “conduct a reasonable inquiry in arriving at the certification decision.” This rule along with the aforementioned proposed rule would give local agencies more investigative powers in deciding whose vote counts during election night. 

“If certification can only occur after reasonable inquiry but reasonable inquiry is not clearly defined, then the ambiguity as to whether an inquiry has been reasonable or completed creates the opportunity for delay,” said Tori M. Silas, Cobb County Board of Elections chairwoman.

Another SEB amendment would put the onus on a poll manager and two witnesses sworn as poll officers to “independently count the total number of ballots” to reconcile with polling pad totals. Submitted by Sharlene Alexander, a Fayette County election board member, the proposed rule would also require that the poll manager determine the reason for the inconsistency, correct the inconsistency, if possible, and fully document the inconsistency and any corrective measures taken. However, this rule would be difficult to implement and place further strain on local election boards. Jennifer Mosbacher, vice chair of the Cobb County Board of Elections, shared her issues with this proposal in a recent interview with Canopy Atlanta. Her primary concern is delaying the results of November’s election. 

“To hand-count ballots at the poll is an impossible task after poll workers have been working for 14 hours a day,” she said. “To ask individuals to do that is really ridiculous and pretty disrespectful, actually.”

This rule would require public reconciliation reports for vote totals. The new rule, proposed by Gail Lee, a Dekalb County resident, would encourage local elections board members to publish reconciliation reports, comparing hand counted votes with polling pad votes, and explain any discrepancies in those totals. County election board would be required to post those reports on their websites, as opposed to having citizens formally obtain them through open records requests.  

“I’m just a citizen wanting to ensure accuracy in our elections, and there’s plenty I don’t know, but it seems to me that the certified number of ballots cast should be reconciled to the number of voters who have cast a ballot,” Lee said during the meeting. 

While SEB board members voted for these petitions to pass, they’re still determining how local agencies will carry out these reporting duties and the additional cost of doing so.

Recently, nonpartisan organization American Oversight filed a lawsuit against the SEB for violating the state’s Open Meetings Act after it held a meeting on July 12 without legally required public notice or a quorum. Fulton Election Chair Cathy Woolard has petitioned the governor to remove the board members who held the impromptu meeting. 

According to reports, the July 12 meeting was convened by board members Rick Jeffares, Janelle King, and Janice Johnston. During the meeting, members considered two proposals, including one from Jeffares that required counties to post certain election results that the Secretary of State’s office already provides, which was not previously announced or shared with the public, nor read in its entirety at the meeting itself. 

Previously, after a regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday, July 9, ran long, Chairman Fervier scheduled a continuation for the next day. That meeting was eventually postponed after the board failed to meet its in-person quorum requirements. But late on Thursday, July 11, a document signed by Jeffares and posted outside a meeting room in the Georgia State Capitol announced a meeting to be held on July 12 at 4 p.m., despite other members, chairman John Fervier and Sara Tindall-Ghazal, indicating that they would be absent. This document was not shared to the secretary of state’s email list, nor was it posted to the SEB’s website, where meeting notices are usually posted. 

Furthermore, of the three board members who convened during that meeting, two were in person and the third participated by video, in violation of the Open Meetings Act quorum requirements, according to American Oversight.

As a result, the State Election Board rescheduled and convened for another meeting on July 30th. During that meeting—conducted by Fervier and attended by King, Johnston, and Tindall-Ghazal—the group confirmed the business conducted during the meeting on July 9, including the aforementioned rule proposals that the Board voted to initiate. Due to the legal questions surrounding the meeting on July 12, any actions taken during that meeting, including two additional petitions, will be readdressed at the scheduled August 6 meeting.

Citizens can now submit feedback to the board before the rules are finalized.

The public comment period will end August 19, 2024, according to SEB paralegal Alexandra Hardin. Residents can email their comments, which will be sent to all SEB members for review, to  SEBpubliccomments@sos.ga.gov.

A public hearing will be held at 9 a.m. August 19, 2024, Room 341, at the Georgia State Capitol Building in Atlanta, Georgia, for those who would like to share their input in-person. Information regarding how to join and provide public comment at the meeting is available at the State Election Board’s webpage.

After the public comment period and board vote on the rule changes, those approved amendments will be effective 20 days after filing with the Secretary of State’s Office.