A showdown is brewing between the top election official in Georgia and the State Election Board over more than a dozen new rules and procedures scheduled to be voted on by the board at a meeting on Friday.
A lawyer for the election official, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, sent a scathing letter to the State Election Board on Monday, criticizing “the absurdity of the board’s actions” while warning that new rules under consideration are dangerously late in the election process and most likely illegal.
The fight comes as the election board is under increasing pressure from critics already concerned that it has been rewriting the rules of the game in a key swing state to favor former President Donald J. Trump, including potentially disrupting certification of the election if Mr. Trump loses in November. Last month, the board granted local officials new power over the election certification process, a change that opponents say could sow chaos.
The two-page letter from Charlene S. McGowan, the general counsel for Mr. Raffensperger, sets up a choice for the election board before its meeting on Friday: Heed the guidance of the top election official in the state, or ignore the legal advice and pass another package of election rules that include right-wing policy goals such as hand counting of ballots….
Pressure on the board from election officials continues to grow. The Georgia Association of Voter Registration and Election Officials, a nonpartisan collective of local election officials, released a similarly harsh critique of the State Election Board and the proposed new rules.
“We do not oppose rules because we are lazy or because a political operative or organization wants us to,” the letter said. “We oppose rules because they are poorly written, inefficient, would not accomplish their stated goals, or go directly against state law.”
Multiple county election boards across Georgia, including those in Cobb and Athens-Clarke Counties, adopted resolutions denouncing the state board for introducing rules so close to the election and calling on the board to halt implementation of any new rules within 90 days of the election….