(The Center Square) – Georgia’s two major political parties gave differing views on a vote by the Georgia State Election Board that would require a hand count of ballots on Election Night.
The 3-1 vote came after testimony from election officials who said the rule gave election officials little time to prepare.
Travis Doss, executive director of the Richmond County Board of Elections, said the rules are not likely to make anyone happy. He cited the 2018 election, where gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams attributed her loss to then Secretary of State Brian Kemp and former President Donald Trump, who attributed his 2020 loss in Georgia to Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger.
“In 2024, whoever loses will likely look for a similar scapegoat and these last-minute rule changes may become the reason,” Doss told the board.
Republicans thanked the board for continuing to “fight for transparency and accuracy.
“This is our country’s most important election, and Georgia has sent a clear message: ballots will be protected and cheating will not be tolerated,” Michael Whatley, chairman of the Republican National Convention, said in a statement released on the Georgia Republican Party’s Facebook page.
The Democratic Party of Georgia said the elections board was warned that the rule change “will inject chaos, confusion and uncertainty into our elections.”
“By passing this new rule, the board’s MAGA majority is working on Trump’s behalf to sow enough doubt in our electoral process to allow him to fraudulently claim victory should he lose – just as he did in 2020,” Democrats said in a statement. “Georgia Democrats won’t stand by while pro-Trump election deniers try to silence the voices of Georgians. We will continue fighting to ensure that it is voters who decide this election.”
Board of Election Chairman John Fervier said he thought there were several issues, including the timing of the vote, a lack of resources and the cost. The changes could also be challenged, he said.
“This is board is an administrative body, it’s not a legislative body,” Fervier said. “If the Legislature had wanted this, they would have put it in statute. This board is not here to make law, we’re here to interpret law and I don’t see any place in statute where we’re to interpret the hand-counting of ballots when they come out of the machine.”
