On Tuesday, Georgia’s State Election Board provisionally approved a new rule aimed at granting local officials more power to challenge election results when discrepancies arise between vote totals and the number of ballots cast at precincts.
The rule, which passed with a 3-1 vote during the board's meeting, mandates that local election officials must count ballots at the precinct level on election night and address any inconsistencies before certifying the election.
The proposed regulation also stipulates that election board members should have access to all election records before a certification vote if discrepancies in voting data are identified. The board voted 4-0 to mandate a reconciliation report be made public for each precinct showing that the total number of voters matches the total number of votes.
The three Republican members of the board backed the measure, asserting it will help prevent inaccuracies in ballot totals that might require correction long after an election has concluded.
If finalized next month, the new rule could be implemented for the upcoming general election in November.
Julie Adams, a GOP-appointed member of the Fulton election board, recently claimed in a lawsuit that she was denied access to crucial election records needed to confidently certify the May 21 primary results.
Salleigh Grubbs, chair of the Cobb County Republican Party, presented the rule to the election board, describing it as a reinforcement of existing state laws. Grubbs argued that, had these procedures been followed in the 2020 election, Fulton County poll workers’ double scanning of absentee ballots could have been detected.
In June, the State Election Board voted to reprimand Fulton County and assign an independent monitor for the 2024 election due to violations of state law during the 2020 presidential election recount.
“State election board members have voiced concerns about the possibility of excluding entire precincts from certification, fearing voter disenfranchisement,” said Grubbs. “This rule ensures that Georgia law outlines the necessary steps to address discrepancies and fairly count the returns from affected precincts.”
