FILE PHOTO: A Cobb County resident enters the King Spring Baptist Church voting precinct to cast their ballot during the Georgia Presidential Primary Election, in Smyrna, Georgia, U.S., March 12, 2024. REUTERS/Alyssa Pointer/File Photo
(Reuters) -A Georgia judge on Tuesday temporarily halted a rule requiring clerks to verify vote totals by hand counting ballots in the 2024 election.
Judge Robert McBurney said in his Tuesday ruling that it was appropriate to pause the change because it introduced fresh uncertainty into the process just weeks before Election Day.
"Anything that adds uncertainty and disorder to the electoral process disserves the public," according to a copy of the decision posted by Democracy Docket, a website that tracks election cases.
The Georgia Election Board in August empowered county election board members to investigate discrepancies between the number of ballots cast and voters in each precinct, and examine a trove of election-related documents before certifying their results.
The board's 3-2 vote was powered by three allies of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who lost to Democrat Joe Biden in Georgia in the 2020 election and made false claims of widespread voting fraud.
"From the beginning, this rule was an effort to delay election results to sow doubt in the outcome, and our democracy is stronger thanks to this decision to block it," according to the statement from Quentin Fulks, a spokesperson for the campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, Democratic National Committee co-executive director Monica Guardiola and congresswoman Nikema Williams.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington)
