Georgia’s State Election Board adopted a rule requiring county and state vote-tabulation and consolidation activities to be conducted in public, despite a warning from Attorney General Chris Carr’s office that the board may be exceeding its authority.
The board approved the measure 3-2 July 8. The published rule proposal says officials’ review and approval of tabulation reports must occur in public with “meaningful” visual access for poll watchers. It allows Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and county election superintendents to impose reasonable security rules and prevent interference.
Board member Salleigh Grubbs, the first vice chair of the Georgia Republican Party, sponsored the change after Raffensperger’s office denied most board members access to the state’s Election Night Reporting Room, where county results are received and aggregated. Supporters say that operation should be open to observation, even though ballots are not counted there.
Carr’s office disagreed. In a May 12 letter quoted by Georgia Recorder, Senior Assistant Attorney General Elizabeth Young said the Georgia Election Code does not appear to require the secretary to admit board members to election-night reporting activities. The office said the room is not a polling place or tabulation center, raising questions about whether the board can regulate access.
Board Chairman John Fervier, a Republican appointee of Gov. Brian Kemp, and Democratic appointee Sara Tindall Ghazal voted against the rule. Fervier said the legal conflict could lead to a lawsuit, while Ghazal said she could not support “overextending our legal authority.”
The dispute had already reached court before Georgia’s May 19 primary, when a judge briefly ordered access before vacating the order because the petitioners had not followed required procedures.
