Georgia Supreme Court rejects State Election Board voting rules | Mark Niesse/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The State Election Board exceeded its authority by passing new voting rules last year, the Georgia Supreme Court unanimously ruled Tuesday, limiting the Republican-led board’s power. The 96-page decision upholds a lower court decision that invalidated rules that would have required hand counts of ballots and election inquiries. The board’s efforts to change Georgia’s voting rules before the presidential election attracted national controversy, highlighting attempts to alter procedures that could affect vote counts. “Although it is not certain that these rules would actually lead to the rejection of votes that have been cast, the threatened violation of a plaintiff’s rights is sufficient to establish standing” that they were able to sue, Chief Justice Nels Peterson wrote. “The SEB can pass rules to implement and enforce the election code, but it cannot go beyond, change or contradict the (the law).” Read Article