A Georgia judge on Wednesday overturned controversial changes to the state’s election rules made by the Republican-led election board, marking a setback for pro-Trump allies ahead of the upcoming U.S. presidential election on November 5. The rules, introduced as “election security measures,” were opposed by Democrats, who argued they aimed to hinder certification of election results in a critical battleground state.
Judge Thomas Cox, in his ruling, declared the half-dozen new rules unlawful, stating they conflicted with existing state election laws. The new provisions, which included empowering local officials to investigate voting irregularities and review extensive election documents before certifying results, were deemed to exceed the board’s legal authority. Cox ordered the election board to remove the rules immediately and notify local officials of their invalidity.
“The rules at issue exceed or are in conflict with specific provisions of the Election Code. Thus, the challenged rules are unlawful and void,” Cox wrote in his 11-page decision.
Although Cox’s ruling is final, it can still be appealed. However, the immediate impact is that the rules, seen by many as efforts to delay or block the certification of election results, will no longer be in place as the state enters a crucial voting period. Early voting in Georgia began this week with record turnout, as the state is expected to play a pivotal role in deciding the outcome of the presidential race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
Cox’s decision marks the third judicial loss in Georgia in just two days for Trump’s allies. On Tuesday, another judge temporarily halted a rule requiring hand counting of ballots and upheld the mandate for county officials to certify election results.
The case was brought by Eternal Vigilance Action, a Republican-founded advocacy group, on constitutional grounds, challenging the election board’s power to impose the rule changes. The group argued that the new rules overstepped legal boundaries and disrupted Georgia’s established election processes.
The rule changes would have allowed county election boards to investigate discrepancies between the number of ballots cast and voters registered in each precinct. The board’s vote on the rules passed by a 3-2 margin, with the support of three Trump allies, fueling concerns that these measures were designed to influence the outcome of the certification process. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, criticized the changes, calling them last-minute and damaging to voter confidence.
The Democratic National Committee also filed a separate lawsuit, arguing that the new rules would effectively give county officials the power to block certification of election results under the guise of investigating irregularities. They highlighted that election certification is a mandatory process under state law, and other legal avenues exist to address disputed results.
Judge Cox’s ruling has temporarily alleviated concerns that certification delays or refusals could influence the November election outcome, which is expected to be a closely contested race between Harris and Trump. Trump’s continued false claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election have led to intensified efforts by his supporters to change state-level voting rules. In Georgia, where Trump lost to Biden in 2020, these rule changes were seen as another attempt to cast doubt on the legitimacy of election results.
The Georgia election board’s efforts drew bipartisan criticism, with Republican officials like Raffensperger opposing the changes. Democrats, meanwhile, accused Republicans in various states of attempting to delay or prevent certification in elections where the results might not favor Trump. Wednesday’s court decision adds to the mounting legal defeats facing Trump-aligned efforts to alter election procedures.