Georgia Supreme Court: New Election Rules Will Have to Sit This One Out

After a bit of a ping-pong match in Georgia over new election rules enacted by the State Election Board in recent months, the state’s Supreme Court has declined to allow the rules to go into effect pending an appeal on the merits. That means the rules will not impact the upcoming November election. 

The Georgia Supreme Court decided unanimously that the rules will remain on hold as the court considers whether the State Election Board — an unelected panel of three Republicans, one Democrat and a nonpartisan chair — overstepped its authority.

The court also declined to hear the appeal on an expedited basis, effectively ensuring that no eleventh-hour rule changes will take effect before Election Day, an outcome feared by election officials who warned a last-minute implementation would cause chaos at the polls.

The ruling last week by Fulton County Superior Judge Thomas Cox followed the decision by the Board to accept the proposed rule changes, despite objections raised by Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Attorney General Chris Carr, given the proximity of the election. 

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Cox ruled that seven of the state board’s new rules were “illegal, unconstitutional and void.”

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thomas Cox issued the order Wednesday after holding a hearing on challenges to the rules. The rules that Cox invalidated include three that had gotten a lot of attention — one that requires that the number of ballots be hand-counted after the close of polls and two that had to do with the certification of election results.

Cox found that the rules are “unsupported by Georgia’s Election Code and are in fact contrary to the Election Code.” He also wrote that the State Election Board did not have authority to pass them. He ordered the board to immediately remove the rules and to inform all state and local election officials that the rules are void and not to be followed.

Following Cox’s ruling, the Republican National Committee appealed the decision.

But the Republican National Committee (RNC) rapidly appealed the decision, bypassing the state’s intermediate court and asking the Georgia Supreme Court to weigh in. RNC Chair Michael Whatley called Cox’s ruling “the very worst of judicial activism” in a statement announcing the appeal.

The state’s highest court agreed last week to hear the appeal, but Tuesday’s ruling maintains the status quo while that process moves forward.

Frustrating, no doubt, for Republicans hoping to shore up election integrity ahead of November 5. However, they may take some solace in the latest polling out of Georgia.

Latest Georgia Poll Spells Doom! for the Harris Campaign