Nowadays it would seem that I am reviewing an alternate universe when I state the fact that the Georgia Republican Party had a very good Election Night on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. The Republican Party’s incumbent U.S. Senator David Perdue won his race by a plurality and two percentage points. Two Public Service Commission candidates won by majority and plurality. Only one GOP Congressional incumbent, Representative Karen Handel, lost her seat in a closely watched and nationally targeted race to Representative Lucy McBath. The GOP slightly increased its majorities in the State House and State Senate.

However, incumbent President Donald J. Trump lost his race to former Vice President Joe Biden by a final recount and certified tally of 12,670 votes (.026 percent). Trump and his legal team and supporters would go on to use every recount, appeal and legal mechanism to overturn or throw in question those results since. The resulting and later Electoral College Congressional certification of January 6, 2021, would find Joe Biden certified as President-elect. And now, closing on four years later, after losing every legal judgment and lawsuit, his one-time chief legal counsel, America’s Mayor Rudy Giuliani, has been disbarred as well as lost a multi-million libel judgment against two Fulton County election workers ($148 million award upheld on appeal), and two other lead counsel also facing bar sanctions, fines and pleading guilty to civil statutes… while Trump and many of his supporters still believe the contest to be stolen.

Georgia’s General Assembly has altered Election Laws most every legislative session since.  Some changes were practical and made sense, such as requiring voter identification to also be used for voting via Absentee Ballot or drop box.  Other revisions seemed to be offering solutions in search of a problem. 

But if anything is clear, for the next election, Team Trump is building out a Plan B for blocking certification of election results which it does not like or agree with.  Trump supporters have been appointed, in multiple states, to both state and local election boards.  Election board members review election results and certify the math and tabulations at the county and precinct levels to the state.  Certified county results are later transmitted to the state for final tallying and recertification.

Prior to 2020, the State Election Board (SEB) in Georgia was composed of the Secretary of State as Chair, a non-partisan Vice Chair appointed by the Governor and two appointees each from the Democratic and Republican Parties.  Several state election law changes have occurred since, but in summary, the Secretary of State was removed, the Governor now appoints a non-partisan Chair, each state party has one appointment and the Lieutenant Governor and House Speaker each has one appointment. Like any other state appointed board, the SEB also has ‘rulemaking’ authority, flowing up and under prevailing state law.

All three newest appointees to the board are Republican, as well as unabashed supporters of the former President and election hawks of a sort who believe MORE oversight and inspection is needed for most every election. Additionally, new rules, also opposed or cautioned against adoption by Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, Attorney General Chris Carr and former Georgia Governor Nathan Deal (all Republicans) categorize these proposed changes, including ballot tabulation by hand, as both unnecessary, likely to delay or stall election results and certification, and potentially having an impact on the final certification of all Georgia election results.

Unfortunately, via multiple 3-1 votes of the SEB, new rule changes allow any single local county election board member to request and review ANY document related to completing certification, as well as to conduct a reasonable review/inquiry, in the event of any concerns about tabulation. 

There are authorities and entities with investigative responsibility and authority over local, state and federal elections.  Those powers are NOT vested in local boards of election. 

Trump recently applauded by name the three new GOP SEB board members at his ill-fated Atlanta rally, where he spent almost as much time lambasting Georgia’s GOP Governor Brian Kemp and the First Family as he did attacking his Democratic opponents. Though the goal of these changes is clearly partisan, the stakes and potential loss of integrity of our election system are much, much higher. Legal challenges are already underway, and I believe that Georgia’s Secretary of State and the Attorney General both have existing state law on their side. Regardless of party preferences, voters should decide elections, not sham rulemaking and attempting to tip the scales in search of a specific or preferred outcome and result.