(Bloomberg) -- A courtroom showdown is set to begin Tuesday over how Georgia will certify who clinches the swing state in the US presidential contest, one of several high-stakes clashes coming to a head before the Nov. 5 election.
The Democratic National Committee is suing Georgia’s election board, claiming recent rule changes risk injecting chaos into the state’s process for certifying vote tallies before the national results can become official. The board, backed by the Republican Party, contends the case should be tossed out, and if not, will argue the new language complies with state law.
Georgia is among the battleground states expected to play a critical role in the match-up between the Republican nominee Donald Trump, and the Democrat, Vice President Kamala Harris. With only five weeks before the election, the trial that begins Tuesday in Fulton County Superior Court is one of several last-minute legal challenges to how the state will run the voting and finalize ballot counts.
Hand-Counting Ballots
On Monday, the Democratic party announced a new lawsuit in Fulton County challenging the election board’s 3-2 vote earlier this month to require a hand count of ballots at local precincts. An organization backed by local Republicans also is suing the election board over the new certification and hand count rules.
Georgia’s Republican secretary of state and attorney general opposed the hand count rule and critics say it could delay the reporting of results and compromise the security of ballots. The board’s Republican majority defended the change as a way to confirm the accuracy of the count. It wasn’t immediately clear when the Fulton County court would schedule these cases.
Meanwhile, a Republican member of the Fulton County election board, Julie Adams, is suing for a court order declaring that she has discretion to decide whether to certify the results. Adams, represented by the conservative America First Policy Institute, argues she’s entitled to documents and data to independently confirm the accuracy of vote tallies. Adams voted against certifying the May primary after a flap over access to election materials.
2020 Legacy
Adams’ case represents the type of scenario that the DNC, which intervened to oppose her lawsuit, is arguing it wants to head off in the case going to trial this week.
The role that local election officials play in certifying vote tallies took on new prominence during the 2020 cycle, when Trump and his allies searched for ways to stop or at least delay states and the US Congress from finalizing President Joe Biden’s win.
In August, the Georgia election board voted 3-2 to adopt new language about the certification process. The revised rule says that to “certify” means to confirm “after reasonable inquiry” that the vote count is a “true and accurate accounting.” The board also gave county election officials a right to “examine all election related documentation.”
The trial will proceed before a judge alone, without a jury.
The DNC argues that under Georgia law, local officials have a “mandatory” duty to certify. Any action to expand the limited power those officials have to confirm the “numerical accuracy” of vote counts — resolving a difference between ballot tallies and the number of voters in a precinct, for instance — is illegal, the party says.
Nov. 22 Deadline
The challengers warn that Georgia voters risk having their votes not counted under the new language. In Georgia, the secretary of state has a legal obligation to report the results to the governor by Nov. 22 and wouldn’t include results from counties that haven’t certified, Democrats say.
In arguing for the case to be dismissed, the board and the Republican National Committee argued the DNC and other plaintiffs lacked standing and that there’s no action needed by the court because the lawsuit is about potential future interpretations of the rules. On the merits, the board disputes that the new language authorizes local officials to delay certifying.
Other recent cases filed in Georgia include a lawsuit brought by the DeKalb County Republican Party accusing the state of failing to secure election equipment and a challenge by civil rights groups to how the state handles mass challenges to voter eligibility and mailing election material to people without homes.
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