CNN —
State and national Republicans on Thursday appealed a Georgia judge’s ruling invalidating a series of controversial new election rules passed by Donald Trump’s allies. That includes two rules related to the state’s election certification process that Democrats say will cause “chaos” in key battleground states after the election.
Lawyers for the Republican National Committee and the Georgia Republican Party appealed the ruling directly to the Georgia Supreme Court. The Georgia Supreme Court has the power to review contested election cases and certain state constitutional challenges without waiting for a state intermediate court to decide. The court has the option of rejecting the appeal directly.
RNC Chairman Michael Whatley said in a statement Thursday night that the decision handed down the day before by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thomas Cox “represents a worst example of judicial activism.”
“By overturning the Georgia Board of Elections’ common-sense rules passed to protect Georgia’s elections, the judge joined Democrats in their attack on transparency, accountability, and election integrity.” said. “We immediately appealed this damning order to ensure common-sense rules are implemented in the lead-up to the election. We will not let this stand.”
Cox invalidated seven rules passed by the Georgia State Board of Elections. These include requiring county election officials to conduct a “reasonable investigation” before certifying election results and “examination of all election-related documents produced during the conduct of the election.” This includes those that recognize the following. Confirm the results of an election before certifying the results. ”
“The court declares these regulations to be unlawful, unconstitutional, and void,” Cox said in Wednesday’s ruling.
The justices also struck down a rule requiring officials to manually count ballots at each polling place on Election Day and expanded the number of areas poll watchers could access.
