Statement on Georgia Election Board’s Approval of Controversial New Rules
Less than three months before the election, the board’s Trump-allied majority approved problematic new measures and advanced rules it had previously brought forward during an illegal meeting.
Nonpartisan watchdog organization American Oversight released the following statement today after the Georgia State Election Board (SEB) voted to approve problematic new rules just months before the November election:
Statement from American Oversight Interim Executive Director Chioma Chukwu:
“It comes as no surprise that, given the former president’s praise for their efforts, three Trump-allied board members have pushed through controversial rule changes less than 100 days before what is certain to be a hotly contested election.
“Instead of protecting the right of all Georgians to safely cast their ballots, the board’s anti-democratic majority has aligned itself with the election denial movement to advance partisan rules designed to cause confusion on Election Day, delay the certification of votes, and benefit one candidate in November. This should alarm all Americans, not just Georgia voters.”
Last month, American Oversight filed a lawsuit against the SEB and its three far-right members, Rick Jeffares, Janice Johnston, and Janelle King, for violating the state’s Open Meetings Act after they hastily convened a meeting on July 12 to consider two rule changes without providing adequate notice or satisfying quorum requirements.
Following American Oversight’s lawsuit and subsequent motion for a preliminary injunction seeking to block the board from moving forward with the rules, the SEB rescinded all actions and agreed to consider the two rules at this week’s meeting.
Public reporting revealed that one of the two rules proposed on July 12 had been provided to Rick Jeffares by Georgia GOP Chair Josh McKoon in apparent coordination with the Republican National Committee. A similar version of the other rule, which purported to increase the number of partisan poll monitors observing ballot counting at Georgia tabulation centers, was reportedly also shared by the state’s Republican Party. On Tuesday, the board advanced both for rulemaking.
On Aug. 2, during a campaign rally in Atlanta, former President Trump lavished praise on Jeffares, Johnston, and King, calling them “pit bulls fighting for honesty, transparency and victory.” Trump’s remarks followed similar adulation from Cleta Mitchell, a longtime proponent of voting restrictions who aided the former president in his attempt to remain in power. Weeks earlier, Mitchell had called on her followers to support the SEB members for “fighting hard for us.”
The composition of the five-member SEB, which is tasked with administering the state’s elections, has drastically changed since 2021, when the Republican-led legislature stripped Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger of his role as board chair. The board has since been remade in the former president’s image, with three of its members — Jeffares, Johnston, and King — questioning whether President Biden won Georgia in 2020.
In recent months, the board has considered a bevy of controversial changes to the administration of state elections that would go into effect just months before the November elections. On Tuesday, the SEB approved a rule requiring local election officials to conduct “reasonable inquiries” before certifying election results, and on Wednesday advanced another requiring workers in each polling place to hand-count ballots to ensure a match with the number of ballots recorded by scanning machines.