Local election board members across Georgia would be entitled to review vast troves of documents before they certify this fall’s presidential election under a rule proposal that critics fear would allow partisans to reject the results.
The Republican-controlled State Election Board voted 3-1 on Tuesday to advance the proposal, which was sought by Cobb County Republican Party Chairwoman Salleigh Grubbs.
The initiative follows recent votes by Republican election board members to refuse certifying results, even when there weren’t any problems and the outcome of the election wasn’t in doubt.
Certification is a required step under state law before election results can be finalized by counties the Monday after election day. If the majority of an election board refused to certify the presidential race, the results could be delayed and disputed in court.
Grubbs said election board members need authority and discretion before deciding whether to sign off on an election. Requiring document disclosure would help ensure that votes aren’t overlooked, such as in cases where election workers initially failed to load memory cards in several counties, she said.
“We must make every effort to ensure every vote is counted right the first time,” Grubbs told the State Election Board. “I don’t understand why we don’t want more security in our procedures.”
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
The proposed rule change advanced by the board Tuesday comes after another potential rule from May that would require a “reasonable inquiry” before county election boards attest that results are accurate. That proposal came from Republican Fulton election board member Michael Heekin, who refused to certify the presidential primary earlier this year.
The State Election Board could vote to finalize the “reasonable inquiry” rule in the coming weeks, and the rule considered Tuesday will go through a public comment period before a later vote.
Credit: Ziyu Julian Zhu/AJC
Credit: Ziyu Julian Zhu/AJC
Sara Tindall Ghazal, the only Democratic-appointed board member, said certification is a mandatory part of the voting process, and the law requires it to be completed before candidates can go to court to contest an election.
“Under your rule, a board member could refuse to certify until they see all of those documents,” Ghazal told Grubbs before voting against the rule. “Every document is not necessary for the certification of an election. ... The whole point is to make sure there are not more votes than ballots and not more ballots than voters checked in.”
The board resisted a suggestion from State Election Board Chairman John Fervier, who wanted a specific list of basic documents that must be provided before certification, such as statements of votes cast, vote total recap forms and lists of voters.
“I just believe there needs to be a list of documents that the board of registration and elections gets to see so it’s not a never-ending search for ‘I need this document, I need that document,’ ” said Fervier, an appointee of Republican Gov. Brian Kemp.
But the board’s majority opposed any constraints on election board members’ requests, which they could then use to justify votes against certification as in Fulton County.
“If you can’t investigate it, don’t invest in it,” said Janelle King, a Republican-appointed board member. “What exactly are you supposed to do if you find something that’s wrong? Do you put it to the side and go ahead and certify?”
Fervier responded that election boards are supposed to certify the results, investigate problems and then report irregularities to prosecutors or the State Election Board.
The board also moved forward with two other rule proposals that could be completed ahead of this November’s election.
One of the rules would require poll workers to hand-count the number of ballots cast after polls close to ensure accuracy, raising concerns from opponents who said manual counting could delay results on election night.
Another rule would require counties to publish a report showing and explaining vote-counting discrepancies on their websites after elections.
The State Election Board didn’t revisit the appointment of election monitors to watch this fall’s election in Fulton, which was a condition of its reprimand of the county in May for double-scanning ballots in the 2020 recount.
But the election oversight plan is still alive. The monitor team could soon be approved by Fulton’s election board — at a cost to the county of about $100,000 — and then it would be considered by the State Election Board afterward.
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