Judge rejects Election Board’s hand-count election rule

ATLANTA – A Fulton County Superior Court judge has blocked a new rule governing Georgia’s election requiring counties to hand-count the number of ballots cast at polling places on Election Day.

Judge Robert McBurney issued a temporary restraining order Tuesday night delaying implementation of the rule until the parties in a lawsuit filed by the Cobb County Board of Elections and Registration have a chance to be heard on the merits of the rule.

The hand-count requirement is one of a series of changes to state election law adopted in recent weeks by the Republican-controlled State Election Board.

In an eight-page decision, McBurney objected to the timing of the rule, particularly amid an election climate fraught with memories of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of then-President Trump.

“On paper, the Hand Count rule – if properly promulgated – appears consistent with the SEB’s mission of ensuring fair, legal, and orderly elections,” the judge wrote. “[But] a rule that introduces a new and substantive role on the eve of election for more than 7,500 poll workers who will not have received any formal, cohesive, or consistent training … does not contribute to lessening the tension or boosting the confidence of the public for this election.”

McBurney’s decision on the hand-count requirement was his second this week shooting down one of the SEB’s new rules. The judge also declared that county election boards must certify election results in a lawsuit brought by a Fulton County elections board member asserting her right to refuse certification.

Tuesday night’s ruling came on the day early voting ahead of the Nov. 5 election began in Georgia. More than 300,000 early votes were cast on Tuesday, shattering the all-time record for first-day early voting in the Peach State and eclipsing any single day of early voting two years ago.

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