Certifying elections is a required duty of county election boards in Georgia, and they’re not allowed to refuse finalizing results based on suspicions of miscounts or fraud, a Fulton County judge ruled Tuesday.
Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney rejected claims brought by Fulton County election board member Julie Adams, who voted against certifying this spring’s presidential primary.
McBurney ruled that Georgia law requires certification, and county election boards don’t have any discretion not to do so.
“If election superintendents were, as plaintiff urges, free to play investigator, prosecutor, jury, and judge and so — because of a unilateral determination of error or fraud — refuse to certify election results, Georgia voters would be silenced,” McBurney wrote “Our Constitution and our election code do not allow for that to happen.”
The ruling comes as McBurney hears a challenge Tuesday to six new rules passed by the State Election Board last month, including a requirement for a election night hand count of the number of ballots cast.
A rising number of Republican election board members have refused to certify elections since 2020. An Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation found at least 19 board members across the state declined to certify elections.
Adams, a Republican Party appointee to the board, had sued after she declined to certify the presidential and general primary because other county officials declined to fulfill her requests for a long list of election documents before the certification deadline….
You can read the court’s order at this link.