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Amicus Briefs Published October 16, 2024 Updated October 22, 2024

Opposition to the Georgia State Election Board’s Hand Count Rule

Fulton County Superior Court & Georgia Supreme Court

Issue Areas
  • Election Protection
In This Resource
Summary

On Sept. 20, 2024, the Georgia State Election Board voted to require that all ballots cast on Election Day be counted by hand after polls close. The state’s attorney general, secretary of state, and an association of election officials all spoke out strongly against the rule.

On Sept. 30, Georgia election officials, the Democratic National Committee and the Georgia Democratic Party sued the board, seeking to invalidate the rule and permanently block it from going into effect. Others, including a Republican-affiliated group, have also sued to block the rule.

On Oct. 14, States United filed an amicus brief in one of the cases challenging the rule, Crawford v. State Election Board, in Fulton County Superior Court alongside Amy Lee Copeland, a Georgia-based attorney. The brief, filed on behalf of a bipartisan group of former election officials, supported plaintiffs’ petition for emergency relief to stop the hand count rule from taking effect.

The brief argued that:

  • The hand count rule is unnecessary. There is already a comprehensive system in place under existing Georgia law to ensure that votes are counted securely and accurately.
  • The hand count rule will disrupt and delay the vote-counting process and result in significant delays. The election officials who signed the brief know that implementing new rules so soon before Election Day is “hugely disruptive” and makes it impossible to adequately train staff on the new rules. The process of hand counting, too, is far slower than using machines, a time-tested process that is put through rigorous testing beforehand. The resulting delays will affect other election procedures from being completed in a timely manner.
  • The hand count rule is impractical, expensive, and raises security concerns. Under existing Georgia law, ballots are transported and handled under strict guidelines to ensure that they cannot be tampered with. Adding additional steps and workers into the process presents severe risks. There is also a significant cost associated with the additional time required to train election workers and count and recount ballots by hand.

On Oct. 15, in a separate case challenging the hand count rule, Judge Robert McBurney issued a temporary injunction, stopping the rule from going into effect before the November 2024 election. “Anything that adds uncertainty and disorder to the electoral process disserves the public,” he wrote.

On Oct. 16, in a case brought by Eternal Vigilance Action, Judge Thomas Cox held that the rule was “illegal, unconstitutional and void” in a ruling invalidating the hand count rule and other rules recently passed by the board. That case was appealed to the Georgia Supreme Court.

On Oct. 21, States United filed an amicus brief at the Georgia Supreme Court in Eternal Vigilance Action v. State of Georgia, urging the court to ensure the hand count rule is prevented from going into effect.

Latest update

On Oct. 22, the Georgia Supreme Court unanimously denied the petitioners’ motion to quickly reinstate the hand count rule, among others.

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