For those who don’t know yet, well, SEB under the Georgia Election Board banner is currently confronted with several lawsuits on account of the recent election regulations that were introduced and claimed to be the improvement of regulatory procedures for elections. Like, the critics have outed these rules as being not only unjust but also confusing and extra loads on local officials through the media. And sure, the story of this situation traces back to the 2020 election and it has garnered a larger scope after the introduction of new rules that are bent on altering the 2024 elections. So, let’s see what is really the case here with this Georgia Election Board Lawsuit, and why the fair election discussion is going on in the country at large. Shall we?
First Of All, How It All Started?
Since the election in 2020, the controversy surrounding election security has been a big concern and a big discussion topic as well, not just in part of the nation, but in the entirety of the United States. As a response to this, the SEB (State Election Board) has since introduced new rules as a possible way to enhance the security of the system, you know? However, the SEB was met with a strong backlash from voters and local political parties who were worried that it was going too far and causing local election processes to be disrupted. And as you could have imagined, consequently, some counties and political alliances have gone to court claiming that the SEB lacks the jurisdiction to introduce such unprecedented changes.
What Are The Key Lawsuits Against the SEB?
And sure, at the moment, there are a number of lawsuits challenging the new rules of the SEB:
Like, the case of Eternal Vigilance Action v. Georgia State deals with Republicans disputing the legitimacy of some SEB rules that they think are also exceeding the power of the SEB. Though, eventually, the judge declared the rules void and the verdict was confirmed later by the Georgia Supreme Court.
We can’t forget the case of Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections v. the State Election Board is about the monitors of elections instituted by the SEB. Fulton County, on the other hand, says that the SEB has no legal power to select these monitors, particularly those affiliated with such groups as election denial organizations, and hence has lodged a court case against the SEB’s appointments.
These are just some of the popular lawsuit examples, there are more.
What Are the New Georgia Election Rules, and Why Are They Controversial?
Well, the most important reason why these rules are creating controversy is that they are putting a burden on the local election offices to handle them. Like, the main among them is the Hand Count Rule. According to this rule, the election workers have to compare the manual counts of the ballots with the machine totals. The local officials say that this rule would take them much time and energy, especially in the big elections, and such delays in announcing the results can be a possibility.
Next on the list of problematic rules is the Poll Watcher Rule which expands the number of observers at polling places. Then there is the Drop Box Rule that requires voters who utilize drop boxes to show their photo ID. It could be a problem for those who do not have an ID card. And sure, the last one is the Monitoring Team Rule which leaves the power of appointing the monitors to the SEB enabling it to begin with overseeing the counties with electoral problems, namely Fulton, where such events took place before.
