ATLANTA — The Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Party of Georgia and several individuals, including county board members, sued the Georgia State Election Board on Monday over new election rules that critics say conflict with state law mandating certification of election results.
At the heart of the civil suit, filed in Fulton County, are two items the election board passed this month: the reasonable inquiry rule and the examination rule.
The suit says that the rules conflict with Georgia’s statutes governing certification and that the election board did not follow procedures for rulemaking as required by state law. It therefore asks the court to pause the two rules to the extent that they conflict with existing law.
The plaintiffs are also asking for a declaration that election results must be certified by Georgia’s statutory deadline of Nov. 12 and that certification is mandatory rather than discretionary.
Democratic state representatives asked Republican Gov. Brian Kemp on Monday to remove the three GOP board members who approved the new rules, saying they acted outside the scope of the board’s authority when they approved the measures.
The election board is chaired by a Republican, and it also consists of three Republicans whom former President Donald Trump has praised as his “pit bulls” for “victory,” in addition to one Democrat.
“They’re on fire. They’re doing a great job,” Trump said at the rally of the three Republicans who voted for the new powers. “Janice Johnston, Rick Jeffares and Janelle King, three people are all pit bulls fighting for honesty, transparency and victory.”
The rules would allow county election board members to conduct “reasonable” inquiries before they certify results. Critics say that could throw Georgia’s election into chaos because “reasonable inquiry” isn’t defined, allowing an individual board member to block certification for any reason.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican who is among the critics, has called the new rules eleventh-hour “chaos.”
“These misguided, last-minute changes from unelected bureaucrats who have never run an election and seem to reject the advice of anyone who ever has could cause serious problems in an election that otherwise will be secure and accurate,” Raffensperger said in a statement on Aug. 15.
The examination rule, the lawsuit says, would allow “demands that county boards make available to any board member for examination ‘all election related documentation created during the conduct of elections prior to certification of results.'” The rule leaves key terms undefined, failing to specify what documentation must be provided.
The suit claims that the election board has tried to “turn the straightforward and mandatory act of certification” into a “broad license for individual board members to hunt for purported election irregularities of any kind.”
The complaint asks for a declaration that the obligation to certify county-level results is mandatory and not up to the discretion of local officials. It also seeks an injunction of the rules to the extent that the court finds they are inconsistent with county boards’ certification obligations and/or are procedurally defective.
“For months, MAGA Republicans in Georgia and across the country have been trying to lay the groundwork to challenge the election results when they lose again in November,” Harris-Walz campaign spokesperson Quentin Fulks said in a statement. “But Democrats are prepared, and we will stop them. Certifying an election is not a choice, it’s the law.”
Joe Biden narrowly won Georgia in 2020. In a January 2021 phone call, Trump asked Raffensperger to overturn the 2020 results, saying: “I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state.”
Raffensperger declined. A hand recount certified Biden as the winner by 12,284 votes in an unexpected win for Democrats.
Georgia is expected to be a battleground this time around, too.
Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, will launch a bus tour in the state starting Wednesday with just over two months to go before Election Day.
Charlie Gile reported from Atlanta, Lisa Rubin reported from New York, and Raquel Coronell Uribe reported from Washington, D.C.