ATLANTA– Earlier this week, Georgia’s State Elections Board (SEB) held virtual meetings passing more dangerous rules that could jeopardize the voting rights of Georgians in the 2024 election. The notice and agenda from Monday’s meeting can be found here.

During these meetings the SEB has been proposing changes to Georgia’s election certification process, a process that Georgia voters have trusted and relied on for years. The most concerning rule changes that passed during this week’s meetings would: 

• Give Board of Election members greater discretion to delay election certification without having to show proof of inaccurate results. (The proposed rule authored by Fulton Board member Michael Heekin) 
• Significantly threaten counties’ ability to certify election results by introducing stringent and potentially ambiguous reporting and reconciliation requirements. (The proposed rule offered by Cobb County GOP Chair Salleigh Grubbs)

In response, Jay Young, director of voting and elections for Common Cause shared the following: 

“These new rules would allow election board members to compromise the will of Georgia voters simply based on their own gut feeling instead of facts.” 

“Let’s be clear: Our election process in Georgia is and has always been safe and secure. 

“These newly passed rules only tarnish the public’s trust in our elections and cast doubt on the results. If implemented, these rules could unnecessarily delay certification and threaten our free and fair democracy.

“Making these changes to elections this late would create administrative burdens for Georgia’s local election officials and create chaos and confusion for voters. These proposals have nothing to do with election integrity; instead, they threaten to interfere with critical, final, administrative steps in the election process.

“These rules are simply trying to create solutions to problems that don’t exist.”

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