What happens if a Georgia county refuses to certify election results?
Two separate bench trials this month will determine whether to strike down a new, hotly contested election rule. The rule would allow county election boards to conduct a “reasonable inquiry” of vote tallies before certifying them. The State Election Board’s pro-Trump majority passed the rule in August amid a flurry of other last-minute rule changes.
If the rule stands, its bipartisan opponents fear it could allow any of Georgia’s 159 counties to hold up certifying the statewide election results beyond the deadline mandated by state law.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney hasn’t yet issued a ruling on the new certification rule after a two-hour bench trial on Oct. 1. That lawsuit was brought by the state and national Democratic Parties. The second bench trial is scheduled for Oct. 16 before Fulton Superior Court Judge Thomas Cox. That separate lawsuit is from Eternal Vigilance Action, which is led by former State Rep. Scot Turner, a Republican.
However, McBurney said at the Oct. 1 trial: “The deadline is the deadline. Get done what you can. What is reasonable to one person might be not reasonable to another. But you make your inquiry and then it’s wheels up at 5 pm. on the 12th of November.”
https://atlantaciviccircle.org/2024/10/03/georgia-county-elections-board-certification/