A Georgia judge on Tuesday blocked a new rule from the state’s election board that would have required counties to count ballots cast on Election Day by hand, a provision critics had said would cause delays and disruptions in reporting results in the battleground state.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney wrote in his decision that the rule would be implemented too close to the election and that it would cause “administrative chaos” given the limited time available to train poll workers.
“[T]he public interest is not disserved by pressing pause here. This election season is fraught; memories of January 6 have not faded away, regardless of one’s view of that date’s fame or infamy,” he wrote. “Anything that adds uncertainty and disorder to the electoral process disserves the public.”
An election official counts absentee ballots for the Presidential election at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, on Nov. 4, 2020.Elijah Nouvelage / Bloomberg via Getty Images file
The temporary injunction, which is likely to be appealed, is a win for Democrats who filed the suit after the State Election Board voted 3-2 in favor of the hand-counting rule last month. It was set to take effect on Oct. 22, two weeks out from Election Day.
The rule required election workers to count the number of ballots — not every vote on a ballot — cast on Nov. 5 before they are delivered to the county for counting and tabulation, sparking concerns it could unnecessarily delay the reporting of results and sow uncertainty in a key state in the presidential election.
It was approved by three board members who’ve been praised by former President Donald Trump, and it was opposed by Democrats in the state, as well as by the Republican secretary of state and attorney general.
Days after the vote, the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Party of Georgia, with support from Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign, sued in a Fulton County court, seeking to halt the new rule from going into effect.
Democrats praised Tuesday’s injunction.
“From the beginning, this rule was an effort to delay election results to sow doubt in the outcome, and our democracy is stronger thanks to this decision to block it. We will continue fighting to ensure that voters can cast their ballot knowing it will count,” Harris principal deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks, DNC acting co-director Monica Guardiola and Rep. Nikema Williams, chair of the Democratic Party of Georgia, said in a joint statement.
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Hand-counting ballots has captured the attention of many on the right in recent years in response to baseless claims about hacked voting machines, despite ample evidence that counting by hand is more expensive and less accurate than using ballot tabulators.
Georgia has been one of the primary focuses of Trump’s unfounded claims that the 2020 election was stolen. He has repeatedly praised the three board members who passed the measure, saying they’re “pit bulls fighting for honesty, transparency and victory.”
The three members are Janice Johnston, Rick Jeffares and Janelle King. Johnson was appointed to the board by the state Republican Party, while Jeffares was appointed by the Republican-controlled state Senate and King by the GOP-led state House.
The two members who voted against the measure were appointed by GOP Gov. Brian Kemp and the state Democratic Party.
In August, the same Georgia board members passed other new rules that would allow county election board members to conduct “reasonable” inquiries before they certify results.
Critics say that could throw the election into chaos because “reasonable inquiry” isn’t defined and an individual board member could block certification for any reason. That ruling is the subject of another Democratic-led lawsuit.
McBurney handed Trump allies another defeat Tuesday, ruling that county election boards in Georgia are not allowed to refuse to certify election results.
Adam Edelman
Adam Edelman is a politics reporter for NBC News.
Dareh Gregorian and Jane C. Timm contributed.