October 18, 2024
A Georgia judge invalidated several new election rules on Wednesday, October 16—saying the measures approved by the state’s Republican-controlled Election Board were “unconstitutional” and in violation of state law, reports NBC News.
The ruling, handed down by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thomas Cox, applies to seven rules, including a hand-count rule for Election Day ballots and rules tied to certifying results.
Cox wrote that the five-member board—which includes three officials lauded by by former President Donald Trump—”had no authority to implement these rules” and that the measures were “illegal, unconstitutional, and void.”
The Georgia secretary of state’s office and the State Election Board did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Wednesday night.
The lawsuit was filed by a pair of Georgia voters, including former Republican state Representative Scot Turner, who leads the election policy advocacy group, Eternal Vigilance Action, which is also named as a plaintiff in the suit. Their attorneys said in a filing last month that the board’s passage of the rules “risks destabilizing Georgia’s voting, vote counting, and vote certification process.”
Turner lauded the ruling Wednesday night on X.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which represented civil rights groups that intervened in the case, called the ruling “a big victory for voting rights.”
The state’s new election rules have also faced significant criticism and legal challenges from the Democratic National Committee and the state Democratic Party, which sued the Election Board over the new rules in August.
Research contact: @NBCNews
