A Georgia judge on Wednesday blocked a series of rules approved this year by a pro-Trump majority of the state’s election board, admonishing the board in stinging language that the rules are “ILLEGAL, UNCONSTITUTIONAL AND VOID.”
The judge struck down more than a half-dozen new rules, including one that allowed county election officials to launch investigations of irregularities, which critics feared would delay certification.
Democrats and voting rights groups had sued to block the board’s decisions, arguing that they were being imposed too close to the election and would be impossible to implement without causing disruptions in the election process. The decision came on the second day of early voting in Georgia, with day one setting records for turnout.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thomas A. Cox Jr. also voided a rule that would have mandated the hand-counting of ballots, a decision that mirrored one by a different Fulton County judge, Robert McBurney, on Tuesday.
On Monday, McBurney had ruled that county election boards do not have discretion to withhold certification of results. All of the rulings apply statewide.
Members of the board’s majority have defended the rules, saying they were intended to make state elections more secure and transparent. The flurry of rulemaking, which occurred in recent weeks and months, was the work of a new right-wing majority that took control of the board in May with an avowed mission of preventing fraud and other irregularities from tainting the presidential result this year.
The three board members — Janice Johnston, Janelle King and Rick Jeffares — did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Former president Donald Trump had lauded the three by name at a rally in Georgia this summer, calling them “pit bulls fighting for honesty, transparency and victory.”
Critics said the board had effectively legislated new law, something that existing statute does not empower it to do. The judge agreed.
“We won,” said Scot Turner, who leads Eternal Vigilance Action, the nonpartisan issue-advocacy organization that brought the suit. “This is a victory for the Constitution and the principle of separation of powers. Every conservative should see this as a win and significant pushback on an unelected board making law.”
Other rules voided by Cox would have imposed new identification standards on people dropping off absentee ballots for loved ones and increased reporting standards for counties about their absentee ballot receipts. The judge also negated a potentially burdensome requirement to provide to any county board members “all election related documentation created during the conduct of elections” if they have questions about the accuracy or integrity of the result.
The new rules “are contrary to the laws of the State of Georgia, the Constitution of the State of Georgia, and the Constitution of the United States,” Cox wrote in his order, and the State Election Board “had no authority to implement” them.
The ruling is a victory for voting-rights advocates as well as Democratic groups, including the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris, which had protested the new rules. They were approved by three conservative members of the state board, all supporters of Donald Trump, and over the objections of the other two board members.
In his decision, Cox ordered the rules to be immediately voided and for all county election officials to be informed that the rules are not to be enforced.
It’s not clear if the board will appeal the decision. The office of Attorney General Chris Carr (R) represents the board and had advised it against acting on several of the rules that were struck down Wednesday.