Georgia’s elections board just made it easier for Trump loyalists to delay the certification of votes

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On Tuesday, a Republican majority on Georgia’s State Election Board voted to change the process for certifying election results in a way that could allow Trump-supporting election deniers in key positions to dubiously cause delays. The three members who voted for the change had been praised by Donald Trump by name at his rally in Atlanta over the weekend. The changes are disturbing — and justifiably being met with outrage — given that Team Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election involved calling for state election officials to delay certification, potentially allowing the Republican-packed Supreme Court to weigh in, or even the GOP-controlled House of Representatives. It didn’t work, but Republicans have since taken control of several powerful positions overseeing local elections in battleground states, which could make a similar scheme more successful this time. Atlanta-based journalist George Chidi summed up Tuesday’s vote well for The Guardian: Georgia’s state board of elections adopted new rules for local election boards that permit them to withhold the certification of a vote in the face of unspecified discrepancies — a Republican-led move that could cause uncertainty and confusion after future election days. The five-person board passed the measure in a 3-2 vote. The three board members who voted for it — Dr. Janice Johnston, Rick Jeffares and Janelle King — were praised by name three days ago by Donald Trump at an Atlanta campaign rally. ... The rule requires local boards to initiate a “reasonable inquiry” when discrepancies emerge at a poll, and gives the power to withhold certification until that inquiry was completed. It does not define the term “reasonable inquiry”, nor does it establish strict limitations on the breadth of an inquiry. Georgia’s Republican secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, seemed eager to downplay concerns about the change. “Georgia’s Election Integrity Act requires counties to certify the election results by November 12th and we fully anticipate that counties will follow the law,” he wrote on X. But whether or not Republicans end up being able to use this particular mechanism to undermine democracy, Raffensperger’s assurance doesn’t change the fact that Georgia Republicans have made moves to enhance their electoral chances — and established avenues to sow chaos and potentially undermine results that don’t break their way. They’ve accomplished this by passing voter suppression laws that have created hurdles for liberal-leaning constituencies — such as Black voters and young voters; mass purges of voter rolls, largely at the behest of right-wing activists; gerrymandering districts to water down Black voters’ electoral power; and, indeed, with votes like the one we saw Tuesday. Republicans have spent years gaslighting Americans about “rigged” elections. Meanwhile, they’ve broadly done everything in their power to tip the scales come November. And Georgia is a prime example.