ATLANTA– On Sept. 20, Georgia’s State Elections Board (SEB) held a meeting passing a rule that would require poll workers to hand count the number of ballots from the ballot box, at the end of election day, after they’ve been tabulated but before the results have been submitted to county election offices.

If the new rule survives any expected legal challenge, election officials would have to count an estimated 1.5 million ballots as part of the poll closing procedure. For reference, Georgia voters cast 1.4 million ballots at polling places on Election Day in 2022.

The SEB considered — but declined to approve — a similar rule that would have applied to Early Voting. Georgia’s Voter Registration Election Officials (GAVREO), Secretary of State Raffensperger and the Georgia Attorney General’s office have all opposed the rule changes for varying reasons including: the potential to delay results; the potential for error because of fatigued employees; the need to retrain poll workers so close the election; and the likelihood that the rules exceed the Board’s statutory authority.

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. This is part of a sequence of rule changes that also attempts to allow local officials to make an “inquiry” before certification, without defining what the term “inquiry” means. 

In response to this news, Susannah Goodman, director of election security of Common Cause has issued the following statement: 

“It’s important that Georgia voters understand what this means. 

“In this context, ‘hand counting’ actually means counting the number of ballots one-by-one, not hand tallying all the votes for each candidate in all races.

“Introducing this new rule just weeks before the presidential election is likely to cause confusion and expense. It will add delays on election night, as workers at each polling place have to implement a new and unfamiliar poll-closing process. It adds a new burden on election officials and poll workers, and counties will be required to pay for the additional time they work.

“Creating a new possibility for confusion and delay on election night is not the best interest of Georgia’s voters.”

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