Amid allegations of conducting an illegal meeting and a legal challenge from a watchdog group, the Georgia State Election Board has moved to retract and revisit certain decisions made during earlier sessions. As reported by FOX 5 Atlanta, the board's unanimous vote on Tuesday aims to reassess two specific Republican-backed proposals initially pushed forward on July 12. These include measures to increase the number of poll watchers during ballot counts and a requirement for daily tallies of ballots received in early voting.
According to AP News, the lawsuit filed by American Oversight, a liberal-leaning watchdog organization, contends that the Georgia State Election Board violated state law by failing to provide adequate notice for a public meeting. The complaint further asserts the necessity for at least three board members to be present in person for a meeting to be valid, a standard purportedly not met as member Dr. Janice Johnston participated remotely. Democratic member Sara Tindall Ghazal and nonpartisan board chair John Fervier were not in attendance.
Despite these contentions, board member Janelle King claimed that the meeting was a straightforward continuation of the board's July 9 gathering, which was fully compliant with the required procedures. While that stance is maintained, the board has also confirmed the progression of new regulations that were put forward when all five members were present on July 9. These rules, already open for public comment, might be finalized after a comment period ending on August 19, notes FOX 5 Atlanta.
Among the new policies under consideration is a rule that would permit county election board members to review a diverse set of materials prior to certifying election results. This has sparked concern from critics that such latitude could lead to delays in certifying statewide outcomes, especially given that some county election board members have resisted certifying recent elections. Additionally, another rule would necessitate a manual count of ballots in each polling place to confirm the numbers tallied by the scanning machines, also calling for counties to explain any discrepancies encountered in vote counts.
The controversy surrounding the July 12 session, marked by accusations from Democrats and liberal activists of its illegality, was addressed by Dr. Janice Johnston, who defended the board's actions and denounced the response as overblown. "There was a weirdly overdramatic and excessive alarm raised — a seemingly coordinated misinformation campaign — followed by apparent media attacks and outrageous and ridiculous threats made to the State Election Board," Johnston said in a statement obtained by FOX 5 Atlanta.
American Oversight, however, sees their lawsuit as having affected the rollback of the July 12 actions and vows to remain vigilant. "However, we remain deeply concerned by the board’s decision to promptly revisit these problematic measures — including those coordinated with the state and national GOP — that serve to intimidate election workers and grant partisan advantage to preferred candidates this November," Chioma Chukwu, interim executive director of American Oversight, told AP News.