Conservative activists in Georgia have worked with prominent election deniers to pass a series of significant changes to the procedures for counting ballots in recent weeks, raising alarm about the potential for confusion and interference in the election certification process in a key swing state this fall.
Since the beginning of August, the five-member state election board has adopted rules that allow local election boards to conduct a “reasonable inquiry” into election results before they are certified, and to allow any local election board member “to examine all election related documentation created during the conduct of elections prior to certification of results”. The same rule also requires local boards to reconcile any discrepancies between the total number of ballots cast and the number of voters who check in. If it can’t reconcile the numbers, the board is authorized to come up with a way to figure out which votes count and which do not.
At its upcoming meeting in September, the board is also expected to approve a measure that would require local officials to hand-count ballots to check the machine tabulations. Experts have warned that hand-counts are unreliable, costly and time-consuming.
But at the same time, observers are concerned new changes are seeding the ground to give local county commissioners justifications to object to the certification of the vote.
That’s why Trump was attacking Brian Kemp in Georgia. Last time, Kemp refused to go along with Trump’s ploys to steal the election. He’s adding pressure now to make sure, if the opportunity arises, Kemp helps Trump steal the next one.
Georgians who aren’t traitors need to start pressuring Kemp (and Raffensperger, and local elections boards, etc.) in the other direction, to stay the course and do their jobs properly. It needs to be made clear (both publicly and personally to the officials involved) that we are even more motivated to protect democracy and the rule of law than the MAGA fascists are to destroy it.
Bingo!