Headline Roundup • October 16th, 2024
Georgia Judge Blocks Rule Requiring Ballots Be Hand-Counted
Summary from the AllSides News Team
A Fulton County judge blocked a recently installed Georgia Election Board rule that would require all 2024 election ballots to be hand-counted.
The Details: Fulton County Judge Robert McBurney sided with the Cobb County election board, which contended the new rule exceeded the state board’s authority. Additionally, the judge ruled county election boards could not refuse or abstain from certifying election results under any circumstance.
For Context: The rulings are seen as a win for Democrats who argued the rule could be exploited to delay certification and undermine public confidence in election results.
Key Quotes: McBurney wrote, “Clearly the SEB believes that the hand count rule is smart election policy – and it may be right. But the timing of its passage make implementation now quite wrong.” Top national and Georgia Democrats said in a joint statement, “From the beginning, this rule was an effort to delay election results to sow doubt in the outcome, and our democracy is stronger thanks to this decision to block it.” Robert Thomas, a lawyer representing Georgia’s Election Board, argued, “The time it would take to do this is completely overblown. There’s no conflict with the certification, and there’s no conflict with the election night unofficial results reporting.”
How the Media Covered It: Washington Examiner (Lean Right) and Forbes (Center bias) included Thomas’ claim that the count would only take a little extra time. CBS News (Lean Left bias), which described the rule as “controversial,” did not. An editor wrote this summary with the help of AllSides AI.
Featured Coverage of this Story
BECCA MILFELD/AFP via Getty Images
After Georgia voters began heading to the polls Tuesday for the first day of early voting in the state, a judge enjoined election officials from moving forward with a controversial new rule that would require the hand counting of ballots when polls close on Nov. 5.
Judge Robert McBurney called the rule "too much, too late."
The judge expressed concern that the "11th-and-one-half hour implementation of the hand count rule" would lessen public confidence in the election results. Thousands of poll workers would be handling and counting ballots "in a manner unknown...
AP
A Georgia judge late on Tuesday blocked a new rule passed that required hand counting of ballots on election night, delivering another blow to GOP election officials in the state—many of whom falsely blame election fraud for Donald Trump’s loss in the state in 2020—just hours after the same judge issued another ruling requiring local officials to certify election results.
In his ruling, Georgia Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney said the hand count rule was “too much, too late” as he halted its enforcement while the court “considers the merits” of the case.
...
A Georgia judge halted a rule requiring the mandatory hand-counting of ballots on election night. The rule had been put in place by the Georgia Election Board, which maintains that the process is needed to ensure election integrity. Democrats argued that hand counting would drag out the results and cause uncertainty. On Tuesday, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney ruled that the hand counting requirement was passed too close to Election Day and would create uncertainty and disorder in the electoral process. “The public interest is not disserved by...
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