At a rally in Atlanta earlier this month, former President Donald Trump gave a shoutout to three Republicans on the Georgia State Board of Elections, praising their efforts to prevent “fraud” in the 2024 election.
“He did a great job,” Trump said. “Three members: Janice Johnston, Rick Jafferes and Janelle King. Three people are all pitbulls fighting for honesty, transparency and victory.”
The words of support come as the Georgia State Board of Elections has become the new frontline of efforts to question the integrity of the vote-counting process in the critical state, just months before the presidential election.
In a divided vote this summer, the council approved two rules that empower local officials in any of Georgia’s 159 counties to question elections before local officials certify the results. The certification vote officially ends the canvassing process, where the ballots are counted and tabulated.
But in recent years, an administrative agreement known as a certification has become the focus of election conspiracy theorists across the country who are trying to delay the tabulation of final results, which is needed to end the election.
As of 2020, more than two dozen counties in eight states have tried to block voter certification ā including in Arizona, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. This year only, officials in the country war from Nevada and Michigan trying not to certify local races, is typical of what will happen in the days after November’s presidential election.
Now in Georgia, and elsewhere, new rules are opening the door for local officials to question the legitimacy of elections.
“This is part of a broader strategy to achieve two things: to kick up a lot of dust and make it appear that something went wrong with the election, and to find weaknesses and vulnerabilities in the post-election process,” said Matthew Seligman, a fellow at the Constitutional Law Center at the Law School. Stanford and author of “How to Steal a Presidential Election.”
“This is a power grab,” said David Becker, a CBS News election law contributor and former Justice Department official. “And for political officials who claim power to say, ‘We don’t like the way the election is done, so we’re going to put up with this,’ is corrosive to our democracy.”
According to the latest CBS News Battleground Tracker, polls have Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump currently tied in Georgia with 49% each.
Georgia’s five-member state council serves as the regulatory body for passing rules related to voting, vote counting, and certification ā the administrative process that marks the end of the voting period.
The rule passed this month by the Georgia State Board of Elections is unique in that political officials are trying to expand the role of certifying officials at the county level. The new rule has the potential to delay the certification of presidential results past the strict deadline of November 12 at 5pm ET.
One rule requires the county board to conduct “reasonable inquiries” before certifying a Georgia election. The rules, proposed by Michael Heekin, Republican vice chairman of the Fulton County Board of Elections, do not define what is “reasonable” in the context of this investigation, or how long an investigation can take. Heekin refused to certify state primary results earlier this year because of concerns about ballot security.
“There is no definition of a reasonable investigation. There are no parameters,” said Tori Silas, chairwoman of the Cobb County Board of Elections and Registration, and a Democrat. “Anything is possible.”
Silas, who will be responsible for implementing the new rules if not contested, fears that he could turn any complaints into a reason to delay the naming of the winner. In particular, they are concerned with the “vague” language of the rule that requires counties to conduct “reasonable inquiries” before certifying.
Silas noted that with 159 counties in Georgia, there could be 159 interpretations of what constitutes a “reasonable inquiry.”
“So, how are you going to consistently enforce rules that have no consistency in how you define a reasonable question?” he asked.
The second rule allows district council members “to examine all election-related documentation created during the conduct of the election,” again without specifying which documents are part of this examination. The rules also require county officials to reconcile the number of ballots with the number of voters “before the board counts or issues any certification.”
The rule was initiated by Salleigh Grubbs, head of the Cobb County Republican Party, who told CBS that she does not believe President Biden will win the 2020 Georgia presidential election.
“I don’t think this was a fair and free election,” Grubbs said.
Grubbs and his allies believe the council’s rules are needed to crack down on voter fraud ā even if that claim is proven false in 2020.
In 2020, Mr. Biden won Georgia by just 11,779 votes. Trump famously tried pressure Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger to “find 11,780 votes” in an effort to secure victory in the state.
The Georgia board passed the rule after a far-right takeover by a voting bloc of Republicans Trump praised at an Atlanta rally.
The majority vote to pass the rule was formed earlier this year. King, who became the most recent board member appointed in May, has been a decisive voice for the new majority. He replaces Ed Lindsey, a Republican and attorney, who was forced to resign after voting against an earlier proposal that would have allowed the county board of elections to delay or reject election results.
One of the complaints about this new rule is that it is redundant. There is already a process that officials and parties can follow to investigate the election results. In fact, according to state law, voting certification must occur previous stakeholders can request a recount or audit. For example, Georgia’s 2020 presidential ballot was counted three times in multiple audits and recounts ā after the first vote was certified by the county and state. Investigation showed that there was no fraud in the system.
“The State Board is a mess,” Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s top election official, said at a recent news conference. “They never held an election.”
“Activists seeking to make last-minute changes to election procedures outside of the legislative process undermine voter confidence and burden election workers,” he said in a statement earlier this month. “… A misguided effort by the State Election Board will delay the election results and break the chain of protection.”
A delay in the certification of the results of the presidential race can be far reaching, because this election has a strict certification deadline. According to state law in Georgia, counties must certify the election results on November 12, and then send the results to the Secretary of State’s Office, which must certify the statewide results on November 22. Congress will finally certify the results of the presidential election on January 6.
Any delay – or continued litigation of issues related to certification beyond the deadline – could allow election dissidents or political parties to question the entire election result.
“Even one pending deduction prevents the state from certifying the results,” Becker said. “It can lead to uncertainty about the process that can be used by losing candidates to fuel anger and possibly violence.”
Grubbs told CBS that he believes the district will certify appropriately, despite the new rules. “They will only certify what they have,” he said.
Rules put in place by the Georgia State Board of Elections have sparked litigation. The Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Party of Georgia, with support from the Harris-Walz campaign, demanded the Georgia State Board of Elections Monday, arguing that the new rules violate state law by allowing local officials to delay or withhold elections. The lawsuit contends that the rules “invite chaos” and risk “mass alienation” of voters.
