Georgia Republicans are pushing election-law changes that could undermine the 2024 vote, critics say

Georgia’s GOP-controlled State Election Board is teeing up votes on nearly a dozen election rule changes on Friday, worrying officials who say that the proposals and their timing would disrupt an election process due to start in a matter of weeks — and open the door for board members to block certification of results at will, NPR reported.

Some of the proposals include adding hand counts of absentee ballots; requiring the publication of all registered voters in the 2024 election; giving poll watchers expanded access to voting centers; and permitting local election board members to vote against certifying an election if they claim to find discrepancies or do not receive access to every election document they request.

Some election officials are questioning why such changes are needed now, noting that all three elections in Georgia this year went smoothly. “We’ve been through three elections. We’re feeling pretty good. Let’s not change anything in the next three months,” Gwinnett County elections director Zach Manifold recalled telling his deputies. “I wish everybody had that view," he said, adding that it would be complicated and costly to retrain over 2,000 poll workers on the eve of an election.

“You can’t just tell me on Saturday you want to see a document from all 156 precincts in Gwinnett,” Manifold said. “I can’t just pull that out and get that to you the next day.”

The office of Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican in charge of the state's elections, sent a letter to the board highlighting "the absurdity of the timing" and requesting that it put the brakes on any changes until at least after the election. The Georgia Association of Voter Registration and Election Officials also sent a letter noting that its more than 500 members are “gravely concerned that dramatic changes at this stage will disrupt the preparation and training processes already in motion.”

The proposed changes are causing concern over their potential to subvert or delay election results and fuel misinformation about the legitimacy of elections. Many of the proposals were crafted with input from activists and groups who spread baseless claims about widespread 2020 election fraud, approved by GOP board members who also indulged in those conspiracy theories and praised by former President Donald Trump.

Raffensperger and other election officials say that some of the board's efforts are not only unnecessary but illegal. Voting against an election's certification, for example, is barred by Georgia state law, these officials say, though that hasn't stopped GOP board members from trying anyway.

Two lawsuits have been filed against the certification rules. One of them is led by Democratic organizations, while another is being managed by a group of election officials, including a Republican board member in Chatham County.