Democrats sued the Georgia State Election Board on Monday after it recently enacted a new rule that would require counties to count ballots by hand for the 2024 presidential election.
The lawsuit, filed by the Democratic National Committee and Democratic Party of Georgia and backed by Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign, argued that the board’s 3-2 decision on Sept. 20 could lead to Election Day chaos by delaying results and jeopardizing the security of ballots.
“To protect the sanctity of the state’s laws and to prevent election night chaos, this Court should declare that the Hand Count Rule exceeds SEB’s statutory authority,” according to a copy of the lawsuit obtained by the New York Times.
The lawsuit was not immediately available on the Fulton County Superior Court docket.
Under the new rule, ballots in Georgia are to be hand-counted by election workers the night of Nov. 5 in addition to normal machine tallies that take place.
The rule change was celebrated by allies of former President Donald Trump, who believe the changes will help alleviate concerns about voter fraud the former president raised four years ago after President Joe Biden’s narrow victory in the Peach State.
The state election board’s chairman, John Fevier, previously warned the three members who voted to change the rules that their decision went against the advice of their legal counsel.
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This is the second lawsuit to be filed by Democrats against the Georgia State Election Board in the past month, as more election-related litigation continues to pop up roughly a month before Election Day.
The other lawsuit is against the state election board’s “reasonable inquiry” and “examination” rule, which critics say could affect the timeliness of the state’s election certification. A livestreamed trial is expected to begin for that dispute Tuesday.
