Georgia’s governor has urged his attorney general to remove state electoral board members after three right-wing members approved a slew of troubling new rules.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Republican Governor Brian Kemp has sought Attorney General Christopher Carr for “guidance” on whether he can remove members of the state election board.
This comes after three right-wing members of the five-person board championed and enacted a set of new rules requiring county electoral boards to certify their results.
County boards must conduct a “reasonable inquiry” before certifying the election, according to rules established this month—less than 100 days before election day on November 5. According to the Journal-Constitution, the guidelines do not define what constitutes an inquiry or what “reasonable” means.
County election boards must also convene a meeting to check their vote count on the Friday after election day, which is before the ballot return deadline for voters overseas and in the military.
Donald Trump recently complimented the three right-wing members, Janelle King, Rick Jeffares, and Janice Johnston, for advocating new rules. The former president described them as “pit bulls fighting for honesty, transparency, and victory.”
In Fulton County, Georgia, Trump, his former counsel Rudy Giuliani, and others have been charged with election tampering. Trump has claimed that he lost Georgia to President Joe Biden owing to widespread electoral fraud, but there is no evidence of this.
Representative Lucy McBath, a Democrat, described the board’s new regulations as a “concerted effort to subvert democracy and move us backward.”
“With passing this new rule, they are creating barriers to counting votes and certifying the elections so Donald Trump can once again attempt to throw our country into chaos,” she told reporters.
The Democratic Party has filed a lawsuit to contest the rules, claiming that they could delay certification and lead to voting disputes. According to the Journal-Constitution, Kamala Harris’ campaign has approved the lawsuit.
“Certifying an election is not a choice; it is the law,” Quentin Fulks, Harris’ principal deputy campaign manager, stated. “A few unelected extremists can’t just decide not to count your vote.”
Since 2020, at least 19 election officials in Georgia have refused to validate various election results. King, one of three right-wing board members who pushed for the new regulations, downplayed criticism of them.
“I’m going to continue to do what’s right and let the Democrats play their political games,” King told the Atlanta daily. “There is nothing we are doing that will affect certification. If they have the necessary information to certify, you won’t see them try to delay certification.”
Georgia Republican Party Chairman Josh McKoon also stated that the rule revisions are “common sense rules that ensure election integrity,” according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“In no way do these rule changes interfere with anyone’s right to vote or cause undue burdens on election workers, but these steps will ensure transparency, accountability, accurate reporting and reconciliation,” according to McKoon.
