On Tuesday night, while Democrats applauded the debut of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, something considerably less joyful was happening in Atlanta.
Like my colleague Ja’han Jones explainedThe Georgia State Board of Elections, a five-member body controlled by ardent Donald Trump supporters, adopted a rule that allows local election boards to conduct a “reasonable inquiry” before certifying election results — a task that, according to with Georgia statutory law, it has long been understood as mandatory and ministerial. The State Board of Elections failed to define what constitutes a “reasonable inquiry” and suggested — again, in contrast to the plain language of Georgia law that requires counties to certify this year’s election results by Nov. 12 — that such inquiries could justify non-certification by that date (or any specific date).
But it gets worse. As good government types and local democrats stutteredthe Georgia election board was not yet finished. Instead, it met again on Wednesday because its very newsworthy vote on Tuesday night meant that other agenda items were not addressed.
And at Wednesday’s meeting, the board revived a State Election Board complaint known as SEB 2023-025. This complaint alleges vote count improprieties, including the double counting of approximately 3,000 votes, in Fulton County during the November 2020 presidential election. the board voted to resolve this complaint by reprimanding Fulton County for such errors and appoint independent election observers for the next general election. (It’s worth noting that double counting, although never conclusively determined, would not have impacted the outcome of the election.)
However, on Wednesday, despite strong objections from the board’s chairman, John Fervier (appointed by Georgia governor Brian Kemp, a Republican and Trump foe), and the board’s only Democrat, Sara Tindall Ghazal, the remaining three members reopened the complaint and approved forwarding it to Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr.
trump praised those three members for their “courage” over the weekend. And lest you think Wednesday’s proceedings were too granular for the former president, he actually was paying attention: Trump didn’t just repost one more than six–minute of video of the voting and discussion related to Truth Social, but insisted that Carr, Kemp and Georgia Republican Party Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger “MUST move on” because “[w]We can’t let this happen again. WE MUST BEAT GEORGIA IN 2024!!!” Left unsaid, of course, is how yet another investigation into alleged errors in Fulton County’s handling of the 2020 election – none of which would have changed the outcome – relates to the fight for the votes Georgia elections that year.
However, focusing exclusively or mainly on Trump’s reaction ignores the real danger in the way the Georgia State Board of Elections is conducting itself. During the clip Trump shared, one of the members he praised, Janelle King, reacted to Fervier’s repeated warnings that the board’s actions could go against state law. For example, according to public reportsthe Georgia attorney general’s office – which has now been tasked with conducting a new investigation – warned Fervier that reopening the complaint would itself be illegal. A source close to the board confirms that Carr’s office provided such guidance in a memo written in June.
King is a recent addition to the board, chosen after his predecessor, Ed Lindsey, opposed ending no-excuse mail-in voting and then voted against forwarding Fulton County’s complaint to the state attorney general in May. He resigned abruptly on May 15, Rolling Stone reportedleading to King’s selection.
Thus, one might think that, given his relative inexperience, King might reflect on Fervier’s concerns carefully. Instead, she scoffed, proclaiming that if the meeting was a drinking game and each member had to drink every time he said it, they would be lost. And then, intoxicated only by allegiance to Trump, she insisted that, regardless of the law, referring the complaint to the state attorney general was the right thing to do.
One last thing: You might be wondering where Raffensperger is in all of this. After all, as Georgia’s secretary of state, the administration of state elections falls entirely within his purview. In fact, it is precisely because of this dominance that Raffensperger – who resisted Trump’s Infamous January 2, 2021, appeal to “find 11,780 votes” – fell out with Trump four years ago.
The answer is: nowhere – but hardly by Raffensperger’s own choice. After the 2020 elections, to Georgia Ilegislation removed he as a voting member of the Georgia Board of Elections. So, during this last legislative session, they passed legislation expelling Raffensperger from brow entirely and authorizing the board to investigate he. However, Raffensperger continues to focus on real electoral security measures. Although Georgia’s election board appeared to disregard state law, Raffensperger partnered on Wednesday with the Federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency organize a “tabletop exercise” for local election officials and IT to ensure the physical and cyber security of voting in Georgia in November.
It’s clear, with less than 90 days until the 2024 general election, that something is wrong with Georgia’s election administration. But it’s not the results of the 2020 election, the conduct of Fulton County or the actions of Trump’s favorite punching bag in the Peach State, Brad Raffensperger.
Instead, the State Election Board is out of control – and only litigation may stop it from disenfranchising its own citizens. Watch this space.
This article was originally published in MSNBC.com
