Georgia State Election Board Chairman John Fervier, far right, and Democratic Board Member Sara Tindall Ghazal, far left, cast votes at the Friday Sept. 20, board meeting opposing a new rule mandating the hand counting of ballots cast at each polling place on Election Day. The rule was passed with the support of Donald Trump loyalist Janelle King, second from left. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder
Three Donald Trump loyalist Georgia State Election Board members adopted a contentious rule Friday requiring the hand counting of paper ballots cast during the upcoming Nov. 5 Election Day despite warnings from county election directors that it could lead to more delays with reporting results this fall.
Georgia’s attorney general also wrote to board members ahead of the meeting that their planned rule changes Friday exceeded their legal authority ahead of November’s pivotal presidential election.
The new ballot counting rule was finalized by a 3-2 vote Friday with right-wing election board members Janice Johnston, Janelle King and Rick Jeffares voting in favor of implementing the new rule in time for the upcoming election headlined by the presidential race between Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump.
John Fervier, Georgia Election Board chairman. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder
Board Chairman John Fervier, an appointee of Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, and Democratic Party of Georgia Board Member Sara Tindall Ghazal opposed the ballot counting rule.
The new rule requires that three poll workers sort ballots into piles of 50 and count every ballot to determine if the hand count accurately aligns with the number of paper ballots scanned at each polling location on Election Day. It requires a count of the number of ballots cast, not a count of which candidate received more votes. The vote total would be reported separately
Another hand counting rule proposed for early voting was tabled Friday after the board voted 4-1 to hold it until after the upcoming election. That rule would have required a daily hand count of ballots at each polling site during the three-week early voting period.
The early voting ballot counting rule raised concerns that county election officers would not have time to properly train poll workers or enough resources to implement the changes by the start of advance voting Oct. 15. Additionally, opponents of both rules expressed concerns over the added time-consuming regulations being imposed on election workers and that counting ballots after polls close for early voting would not protect ballot security chain-of-custody law.
Travis Doss, president of the Georgia Association of Voter Registration and Election Officials urged the state board Friday to delay the adoption of 11 rules on the board’s agenda, including the two ballot counting measures.
Federal law mandates a 90-day quiet period for any changes to voter registration and core election procedures. State law requires a 60-day notice for changes to polling places and voting precincts. Current Georgia election board regulations mandate voters receive a 30-day notification of any changes affecting a polling place.
County election offices across the state began mailing out ballots Tuesday to military service members and Georgia residents currently living overseas. The first batches of absentee ballots will start being mailed out Oct. 7 to voters who requested them.
“Should you approve these rules today, they will not legally take effect until Oct. 11, leaving us only 25 days until Election Day,” said Doss, the executive director of the Richmond County board of elections. “Twenty five days is an extremely limited window, especially when we are this close to an election. This is akin to entering the third trimester of pregnancy, nearing the due date. Now is simply not the time to implement sweeping changes that could create unnecessary confusion.”
Georgia Donald Trump loyalist State Election Board members Rick Jeffares, left, and Janice Johnston. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder
The Democratic Party of Georgia, the left-leaning voting rights group Fair Fight Action, and nonpartisan election officials are expressing concerns that several rules on Friday’s election board agenda could delay reporting of results and be weaponized to undermine the electoral process by Trump supporters if he loses the upcoming election.
In a memo sent to the election board this week, Republican Attorney General Chris Carr warned that it was the election board’s responsibility to ensure that proposed rules changes were in compliance with election laws prior to Friday.
Fervier stated Friday that guidance from Carr and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger have reinforced his belief that the board is exceeding its authority by amending the ballot counting rules.
Fervier said the large number of public comments weighing in on the ballot counting proposals were about evenly split between those in favor and those opposed, Fervier said he ultimately decided he would defer to the “overwhelming” number of county election directors pleading to not make the changes this close to the election. .
“Most importantly, I believe that this is not supported at all in statute,” Fervier said about the proposal for counting ballots throughout early voting. ”This board is an administrative body, it’s not a legislative body. If the legislature had wanted this, they would have put it in statute.”
Return to georgiarecorder.com for more updates on this developing story.
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