Georgia Judge Rules Hand Counting Votes ‘Too Much’ on Election Day

A judge in Georgia blocked election officials from enacting a rule that would require poll workers to hand count ballots after polls close on November 5.

Judge Robert McBurney of Fulton County Superior Court wrote in his order on Tuesday that “the hand count rule is too much, too late.” The new rule was passed by a 3-2 vote in September by Georgia’s State Election Board, fueled by three supporters of former President Donald Trump. It would have required poll managers and officers to tally ballots by hand after machine counts were registered.

“This election season is fraught; memories of January 6 [2021] have not faded away, regardless of one’s view of that date’s fame or infamy,” McBurney wrote in his order. “Anything that adds uncertainty and disorder to the electoral process disserves the public.”

The judge added that the hand count rule “on paper … appears consistent with the [State Election Board’s] mission of ensuring fair, legal and orderly elections.”

He added, however, that a “rule that introduces a new and substantive role on the eve of the election for more than 7,500 poll workers who will not have received any formal, cohesive, or consistent training and that allows for our paper ballots … to be handled multiple times by multiple people following an exhausting Election Day all before they are securely transported to the official tabulation center does not contribute to lessening the tension or boosting the confidence of the public for this election.”

This is a developing story and will be updated as further information becomes available.