CNN —
Georgia’s Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled against Republicans who sought to reopen early voting in key battleground states, ruling against a controversial law passed by Donald Trump’s allies. The State Election Commission has indicated that it will not allow the State Election Commission to enforce a series of new election rules. .
The order is a major victory for Democrats and others who have filed numerous lawsuits against the rules, alleging that the board exceeded its authority when passing them.
Among the seven rules are a provision that requires county election officials to conduct a “reasonable investigation” of election results before certifying them, and a provision that requires county election officials to conduct a “reasonable investigation” of election results before certifying them, and a provision that requires county election officials to conduct a “reasonable investigation” of election results before certifying them, and a provision that requires county election officials to conduct a “reasonable investigation” of election results before certifying the results. It includes a provision that allows for the inspection of all election-related documents produced. ”
Other rules include requiring staff to manually count ballots at each polling place on Election Day, expanding the number of areas poll watchers can access, and requiring drop boxes at early voting locations to be closed after hours. Video surveillance will be required.
Georgia, whose 16 electoral votes are crucial to Mr. Trump and his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, has recorded high early voting rates for the 2024 election. State Elections Director Gabriel Sterling said Tuesday that 25% of the state’s eligible voters have already cast their ballots.
The unanimous decision by the conservative-majority court was a technicality. The justices did not rule on the legality of the seven rules, but instead refused to suspend a lower court judge’s ruling last week that invalidated them.
The Georgia Supreme Court’s order means the state election board cannot direct local election officials to follow the rules while a legal challenge against them is pending in court. And we guarantee that this rule will not impact this election cycle.
The court also rejected a Republican request Tuesday for the justices to expedite their review of the rules. The order said the court would hear the case “in the ordinary course.”
The lawsuit was challenged by the election advocacy group Eternal Vigilance Action. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thomas Cox sided with them last week, concluding that the State Board of Elections had no legal authority to pass these rules in the first place, calling the seven rules “unlawful and unconstitutional.” , the court ruled that it was invalid.
The Republican National Committee and the Georgia Republican Party, which intervened in the case to defend the rule, appealed the ruling to the state Supreme Court and later asked a judge for emergency intervention to reinstate the rule.
“This court’s decision on the stay issue effectively determines whether these new regulations apply to early voting and possibly the entire 2024 election,” Republican lawyers said in court last week. ” he said.
Lawyers for Eternal Vigilance said allowing the regulation to go into effect so close to the election “will only cause further confusion among voters and local officials tasked with accurately counting votes.” and asked the court to uphold the rule’s block.
Scott Turner, a former Republican state lawmaker and executive director of Perpetual Vigilance Action, said Tuesday that court victories this week and last week “should remove any doubts about the validity of our case” for the rule. Ta.
“I’m a Republican and this is a conservative policy organization. I don’t like to pick fights with my friends, but in this case loyalty to the Georgia Constitution is required,” he said in a statement. “True conservatives oppose giving power to an administrative state that is not directly accountable to voters. It’s a victory.”
Democrats also warn that some rules, if allowed to take effect this year, could bring post-election “chaos” to Georgia. Lawyers for the state Democratic Party and the national Democratic Party argue in separate lawsuits that, for example, “reasonable inquiry” and “inspection” provisions could force local election officials to delay or outright refuse to certify election results. He said that there is.
In a separate challenge to the ballot counting rule, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney last week temporarily suspended the requirement, saying the “administrative confusion” it would cause “is a challenge to the Board of Elections (and “This is completely inconsistent with the duties of the Trustees.” SEB) To ensure that our elections are fair, legal and orderly. ”
This article was updated Tuesday with additional details.
