Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thomas A. Cox Jr. issued a ruling Oct. 16, 2024 that struck down seven new rules adopted by the Georgia State Election Board in the weeks leading up to the 2024 general election. Stanley Dunlap/Georgia Recorder (File)
A Fulton County judge Wednesday struck down several controversial Georgia State Election Board rules that were set to take effect for the Nov. 5 general election.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thomas A Cox Jr. ruled that the State Election Board’s seven new rules for ballot counting, poll watcher access and election certification were illegal and unconstitutional, following a hearing on a pair of lawsuits challenging the rules.
Cox’s decision to overturn the seven election rules was a major blow to a right-wing faction of the Georgia State Election Board and state and national Republican Party officials, who defended the integrity of rules in several lawsuits challenging their legality. The three members who pushed through the now scuttled rules were singled out for praise at a recent Atlanta rally by former President Donald Trump as “pit bulls fighting for honesty, transparency and victory.”
The State Election Board attorneys argued that their rulemaking complies with their legal responsibilities to ensure that local elections are conducted in a fair and uniform manner by county election officials.
Critics have argued that forcing local election officials to implement new rules would place an unnecessary burden on Georgia counties during an already busy election season that’s attracting record breaking turnout during the first week of early voting.
Cox’s ruling overturns a rule requiring three poll workers to hand count every paper ballot cast on election day and verify that their count matches the machine-calculated totals. Cox’s ruling also voided election rules for ballot reconciliation, absentee ballots and other election procedures.
Cox also invalidated a rule allowing local election board members to refuse to certify election results if they believe they are inaccurate.
On Tuesday, Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney issued a ruling temporarily blocking the same hand count rule from being in place in the November election. He also issued a ruling this week that state law mandates county election board members vote to certify election results.
This is a developing story. Please return to georgiarecorder.com for more updates.