A Georgia judge has ruled that county election officials had an obligation to certify election results without delay — amid rising fears that rogue election officials could seek to delay or decline to certify results after Election Day due to allegations of fraud or error.
Julie Adams, a Republican member of the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections, had brought forth the case hoping that the judge would rule that certifying election results were “discretionary.” However per CNN, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney said in his ruling that state election boards don’t have the power to reject such counts. McBurney found that the law is clear, stating that ‘the superintendent must certify and must do so by a certain time … election superintendents in Georgia have a mandatory fixed obligation to certify election results. There are no exceptions.” McBurney said in that cases of alleged fraud or systemic error are issues that should be addressed by appropriate local authorities and should not be used to whether to or not certify election results.
McBurney said in Tuesday’s ruling: “election superintendents in Georgia have a mandatory fixed obligation to certify election results. Consequently, no election superintendent (or members of a board of elections and registration) may refuse to certify or abstain from certifying election results under any circumstances .. if election superintendents were, as plaintiff urges, free to play investigator, prosecutor, jury and judge, and so — because of a unilateral determination of error or fraud — refuse to certify election results, Georgia voters would be silenced. Our constitution and election code do not allow that to happen.”
The ruling comes after Georgia’s controversial State Election Board recently passed new rules that some voting rights activists are concerned would cause chaos in the certification process. One of those new rules allows election officials to conduct a “reasonable inquiry” prior to certification. Georgia began early voting for the 2024 under new rules passed by the state election board that would grant county election boards the ability to delay certifying election results to investigate potential discrepancies.
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