'Too much, too late': Divisive Georgia ballot rule blocked by judge

This story was updated to add new information.

A Georgia judge blocked a controversial ballot hand-count rule from going into effect before the November election, writing that the last-minute requirement for thousands of election workers was "too much, too late" and would lead to "administrative chaos."

In placing a temporary hold on the rule, Judge Robert C.I. McBurney invoked the memory of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, suggesting the new rule was particularly dangerous in its high-temperature aftermath.

"This election season is fraught; memories of January 6 have not faded away, regardless of one’s view of that date’s fame or infamy," McBurney wrote. "Anything that adds uncertainty and disorder to the electoral process disserves the public."

The rule would require three separate individuals in each of Georgia's voting precincts – there are 2,400, according to Georgia's Republican secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger – to count the ballots by hand and confirm they arrived at identical results. A poll manager would then need to confirm those figures matched machine-produced tallies and work to correct any inconsistency.

"I am deeply disappointed for the people of Georgia. However, sometimes the victory lies in the public knowing that the State Election Board is paying close attention to our election process," said state board member Janelle King, one of three members who backed the rule, in a statement.

Other members of the state board, which passed the rule in a 3-2 vote, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. A lawyer for the election board of Georgia's Cobb County, which brought the lawsuit, also didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Georgia is one of seven swing states that will decide the election. After President Joe Biden won Georgia by a margin of about 12,000 votes in 2020, Raffensperger, in a taped phone call, resisted pressure from then-President Trump to help "find" enough votes to reverse that result amid debunked claims of voter fraud. Trump has pleaded not guilty in Georgia to criminal charges that he and allies conspired to steal that election.

The late-Tuesday ruling was one of two significant election-related decisions from McBurney this week. On Monday, he ruled in a separate case that Georgia's county election officials must certify election results by the state deadline.

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Georgia election officials voice concern

The hand-count rule was passed Sept. 20 by three Republican members of the state board who have been praised by Trump as "pit bulls fighting for honesty, transparency, and victory." King and another of those members, Janice Johnston, have said the rule strengthens the election process and doesn't change the Nov. 12 deadline for counties to certify results.

However, the rule – which was slated to go into effect Oct. 22 – brought widespread criticism from election workers and officials, including other Republicans.

Georgia's Republican attorney general, Chris Carr, warned the board the rule was probably unlawful. Raffensperger said the proposal could lead to "error, lost or stolen ballots, and fraud."

King said in her statement that their opinions "directly contradict" the state board's rules and force a judge "to rule on hypothetical scenarios."

The Georgia Association of Voter Registration and Election Officials, a nonpartisan group of more than 500 officials and staff, had also warned the rule could delay results, undermine public confidence in the election, and "set fatigued employees up for failure."

McBurney had appeared poised to halt the rule at a multihour hearing earlier on Tuesday, where he said he was seeing significant evidence "of chaos that it is sowing."

His Tuesday ruling was more emphatic.

"The administrative chaos that will – not may – ensue is entirely inconsistent with the obligations of our boards of elections ... to ensure that our elections are fair, legal, and orderly," McBurney wrote.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Too much, too late': Judge blocks Georgia election hand-count rule