By Jack Queen
(Reuters) – Georgia’s highest court on Tuesday declined to fast-track an appeal of a decision blocking Republican-backed changes to the battleground state’s election rules, making them unlikely to go into effect for the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election.
Georgia Supreme Court justices unanimously denied an emergency motion to pause an order blocking the rules and expedite its review of the case, a docket entry showed. A lawyer involved in the case said that means it will not be decided until next year.
The half-dozen rules, passed by the board in a 3-2 vote, empower county election board members to investigate discrepancies between the number of ballots cast and voters in each precinct, and examine troves of election-related documents before certifying their results.
The board was powered by three allies of former U.S. President Donald Trump, who lost to Democrat Joe Biden in Georgia in the 2020 election and made false claims of widespread voting fraud. Some senior Republicans continue to refuse to say that Biden was fairly elected in 2020.
Georgia is one of seven closely contested states that are expected to determine the winner of the presidential race between Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Trump. U.S. presidential elections are decided through state-by-state results, not by a majority in the national popular vote.
Judge Thomas Cox on Oct. 16 struck down the rules described by Republicans as necessary election security measures but which Democrats said were aimed at impeding certification of results in a state that could be crucial in selecting the next president.
Cox said the rules contradicted state law and found that the board had overstepped its legal authority in several ways.
“The rules at issue exceed or are in conflict with specific provisions of the Election Code. Thus, the challenged rules are unlawful and void,” Cox wrote.
The board’s passage of the rules drew bipartisan criticism. The conservative group that brought the case on Sept. 11, Eternal Vigilance Action, argued the Georgia board exceeded its legal authority in making the changes.
Republican Brad Raffensperger, who as secretary of state is Georgia’s top election official, has said that the election board’s “11th-hour” changes would damage voter confidence and burden election workers.
States must certify their voting results – confirming the accurate tabulation of the votes cast – as part of the process of determining a presidential election’s outcome.
Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in January 2021 in a failed bid to prevent Congress from certifying the voting results from November 2020 election. Democrats now are accusing Republicans in various states of seeking to delay or prevent certification of voting results unfavorable to Trump.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen and Jack Queen; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Richard Chang)
