- Georgia judge blocks hand-counting of November ballots
- Decision prevents “administrative chaos” in election process
- Kamala Harris praises ruling, boosting voter confidence
A judge in Georgia has blocked an order that ballots in the November presidential election be tallied by hand.
Judge Robert McBurney found that poll workers would not have received the training to manage millions of ballots and that the last-minute modification would have resulted in “administrative chaos.
The hand count rule was approved by the pro-Trump majority on the Georgia election board last month, and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris applauded Tuesday’s decision.
Early voting began in Georgia on Tuesday, with record numbers casting ballots in the critical swing state ahead of Election Day on November 5.
Officials said more than 328,000 individuals voted in person or by mail on the first day of voting, doubling the previous high of 136,000 in 2020.
Around five million votes for president were cast in Georgia that year, with Democrat Joe Biden winning by little under 12,000.
Trump refused to recognize the result, and he has now been charged with eight counts of unlawfully attempting to overturn the vote, which he denies.
According to a phone call recording, he instructed Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes”.
The hand-count regulation would have required three poll workers in the state’s more than 6,500 precincts to open sealed boxes of ballots that had already been scanned by machine and count them to ensure there was a match.
Critics said the regulation would have permitted electoral board members to delay or refuse the state’s certification of election results.
In his decision, Judge McBurney stated that the “11th-and-one-half-hour implementation of the hand count rule” would undermine public trust in the outcome.
“This election season is difficult; memories of January 6 [the US Capitol attack] have not dissipated, regardless of one’s opinion of the date’s fame or infamy. “Anything that adds uncertainty and disorder to the electoral process harms the public,” he wrote.
On Tuesday evening, the former president hosted a rally in Atlanta, Georgia, where he urged supporters to deliver a triumph “too big to rig,” alluding to his long-standing baseless allegations that the 2020 election was stolen.
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On the same day, Democratic contender Vice President Kamala Harris increased outreach to black voters after surveys showed Trump was making inroads with the group.
She advised black voters not to abandon politics, addressing radio DJ Charlamagne (Lenard McKelvey): “The things that we want, and are willing to fight for, will not happen if we are not active and participate.
Her campaign hailed the temporary suspension of the hand count rule, claiming it was an attempt to cast doubt on the voting process.
In a second judgment issued on Monday, Judge McBurney decided that election board members must certify vote results after a Republican appointee declined to do so earlier this year in Georgia’s presidential primary.
The certification action is one of several election-related cases being heard in Georgia, one of seven crucial swing states expected to decide the race between Trump and Harris.
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