Uncertainty About MAGA Election Board’s Attempts To Delay Certification In Georgia Is Finally Over

After the Georgia Supreme Court rejected an RNC-backed appeal of a recent Fulton County judge ruling that struck down several unsettling new election rules, the MAGA-dominated state election board’s months-long attempts to delay election certification have finally been defeated.  Although the court could at some point in the future rule in favor of these Republicans, the board will not have the power to delay election results this November. 

This latest decision by the state’s high court, which holds a conservative majority, represents the most definitive setback yet for the Trump-backed board following a series of defeats. The ruling ensures that the board will be unable to implement its new rules and inject chaos into the election certification process next month. 

Over the course of the past several months, the state election board approved a series of rules that had the potential to delay certification and disrupt the election administration process in Georgia. The rules, and the Trump-backed members of the board pushing them, were met with fierce pushback from both Democrats and Republicans alike. 

In a brief order on Tuesday, the state Supreme Court justices wrote: “…the Petitioners’ Motion for Emergency Supersedeas is DENIED. The Petitioners’ Motion for an Expedited Appeal is also DENIED. When the appeal is docketed in this Court, it will proceed in the ordinary course.”

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thomas Cox ruled last week that the state election  board “lacked constitutional authority” to enact the seven new election rules and declared that the rules themselves are “illegal, unconstitutional, and void.” 

Reacting to last week’s ruling, RNC Chairman Michael Whatley said in a statement that Cox, in his decision, “sided with the Democrats in their attacks on transparency, accountability, and the integrity of our elections,” despite the fact that it was actually a former GOP state lawmaker and current GOP county election board member who brought the challenge to Cox in the first place.

Cox’s ruling came in response to a legal challenge mounted by those Georgia Republicans and the nonprofit Eternal Vigilance Action Inc., who claimed that the board’s approval of the new rules was beyond the scope of the board’s authority. These rules include one that gives the board the power to not certify election results until after a “reasonable inquiry” into any discrepancies in the voting process at the county level has been conducted by election officials. Another rule passed by the board gives the board the authority to examine all election-related documentation before certifying the results.

But both rules, election experts agree,  simply would’ve given election deniers the room to potentially delay election certification over baseless claims of voter fraud. 

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) has consistently opposed the board’s approval of these rules, calling the “11th hour” changes both “misguided” and likely to stoke “chaos.” He also described the board’s actions as simply an “effort to impose new rule making.” 

The rules were put forward and approved by three board members, Janelle King, Janice Johnston and Rick Jaffares, who have Donald Trump’s backing. During anAtalana campaign rally this summer, Trump called them each out by name and described them as “pitbulls, fighting for honesty, transparency, and victory.” 

The state Supreme Court’s rejection of the RNC and Georgia Republican Party’s  appeal comes against the backdrop of a separate court decision from earlier this month, in which Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney paused another election board rule requiring elections workers to hand count the number of ballots cast in addition to a machine tabulation of the results in each precinct.