Georgia Election Board Approves Rule Requiring Hand Count of Ballots

The Georgia Election Board has approved a new rule requiring election workers to hand count ballots in the November election and confirm that the numbers match machine counts before the vote can be certified.
Advocates have framed the proposed rules as common-sense measures to bolster election security. Supporters of the hand-count rule, specifically, have argued it would help increase public trust in the voting process.
Critics, such as the Georgia Association of Voter Registration and Election Officials (GAVREO), say the proposed rules are, on the whole, impractical, poorly written, and inefficient in achieving their intended goals.
“We respectfully ask that these proposed rules, and any other petitions for rulemaking, be tabled until 2025,” the group wrote in a Sept. 17 letter to the election board.
GAVREO also expressed specific concern about the new hand-count rule, arguing in the letter that it could cause delays and introduce errors.
“We continue to oppose the rules for the reasons we have previously stated including: the rule’s potential to delay results; set fatigued employees up for failure; and undermine the very confidence the rule’s author claims to seek,” the group wrote.
“A review of the proposed rules reveals several issues including that several of the proposed rules, if passed, very likely exceed the Board’s statutory authority and in some instances appear to conflict with the statutes governing the conduct of elections,” he wrote. “Where such is the case, and as outlined below, the Board risks passing rules that may easily be challenged and determined to be invalid.”
The letter from Carr’s office addressed the hand-count rule, stating that the statutes referenced in support of the rule do not allow for hand-counting ballots at the precinct level before they are delivered to the election superintendent for official tabulation.
“Accordingly, these proposed rules are not tethered to any statute—and are, therefore, likely the precise type of impermissible legislation that agencies cannot do,” the letter states.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has also expressed concern that last-minute rule changes could introduce confusion on election night.
At a rally in August in Atlanta, former President Donald Trump praised the three Republican members of the Georgia Election Board, calling them “pit bulls fighting for honesty, transparency and victory.”
The Epoch Times has reached out to the Georgia Election Board with a request for comment on the criticism of the hand-count rule and the other proposals.