New Georgia rules seeking to boost election confidence raise concerns of voter suppression

Aug. 14 (UPI) -- Georgia is enacting new voting measures ahead of the general election on Nov. 5 with some inviting concerns about voter suppression.

The state election board in a 3-2 vote last week approved new rules that will allow county election boards to delay certifying the results of the election to investigate any discrepancies.

There are 159 counties and 159 county boards in Georgia. Texas is the only state with more counties.

The board's decision says county election officials may hold a "reasonable inquiry" into their election results before finalizing their certification.

Granting this leeway to counties could keep Georgia's 16 electors in the air beyond election night, if not longer. Georgia was a crucial battleground state that flipped for Democrats in the 2020 presidential election.

Former president Donald Trump praised the board members who voted in favor of the new rules, telling a rally crowd in Atlanta, "they're on fire."

"After every election, the side that loses often asks questions about it," Zachary Peskowitz, political science professor at Emory University in Atlanta, told UPI. "There's a pattern we've seen in American politics before the 2004 presidential and after the presidential election. Part of the democratic process is people perceiving the system to be flawed in some way when their side loses."

Chairman John Fervier and board member Sara Tindall Ghazal said that they did not believe they or county election officials had the authority to broadly investigate elections, beyond purely tabulating votes and performing canvasses. They noted that the state legislature has had the opportunity to grant these types of powers to county officials as it has worked on election reform over recent years. It has chosen not to.

Ghazal explained that rulemaking is meant to provide further clarity to statutory rules and the new rules for county election officials do the opposite. She expressed concern that expanding county election officials' authority could be exploited.

Rep. Samuel Park, who represents Georgia District 107, told UPI that adopting new election rules like this within 100 days of the election "further muddies the water."

"This new rule that was passed could further delay or serve as a justification to delay the certification of, especially a close election. It upends the process," Park said.

Park questions the legality of the rule, as did attorney Nikhel Sus of the organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington during the election board's meeting. Sus said the rule conflicts with legislative statutes and Georgia case law.

"The legislature outlined the powers and duties of county superintendents," Sus told the board. It doesn't grant the authority to do a free-roaming investigation of certification."

The office of the Secretary of State does not expect the new rules to cause any issues with the delivery of election results, according to public information officer Mike Hassinger.

"We don't anticipate anything other than local elections boards following existing and long-established State law and completing their certifications by 5:00 p.m. on November 12," Hassinger told UPI in an email.

Georgia is also using a new system for removing inactive voters off its rolls this year. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger introduced a new online portal last month that allows voters to request to cancel their voter registration. It can also be used to remove a voter who has died.

Nevada and Colorado use a similar online process.

"This is a convenient tool for any voter who wants to secure their voter registration by canceling their old one when they move out of state," Raffensperger said in a statement. "It will also help keep Georgia's voter registration database up-to-date without having to rely on postcards being sent and returned by an increasingly inefficient postal system."

Hassinger said the online tool will be a safer way to request registration removal, rather than sending personally identifying information by mail.

The voter removal/cancellation process sparked some concerns when it was first announced. Primarily it created worry that anyone could cancel the registration of another. According to Hassinger, a number of safeguards are in place to ensure cancellations and removals are legitimate.

"In addition to the captcha system and security protocols, the portal identifies the time, date, location and device used to generate the request, which is then reviewed by a local elections official for accuracy and a data match," Hassinger said.

To cancel the registration of a deceased voter, the form must be submitted by a relative or legal guardian. They will need to submit the voter's full name, date of birth, Georgia driver's license number and at least a partial Social Security number.

Daniel Franklin, associate professor emeritus of political science at Georgia State University, told UPI that concerns about Georgia's new election measures are much ado about nothing.

"They've adopted a series of reforms that by and large don't do anything," Franklin said. "They give the appearance of doing something."

Franklin explained his position, saying the election challenges are likely to occur in deeply Republican counties which would be unlikely to change any results.

Meanwhile, fraudulent voter cancellation would need to be undertaken on a larger scale than Franklin believes is possible to affect the election results.

"I find it very difficult to understand how this could be a danger on a large scale," he said. "The incentive just isn't there. Even in the last election, you'd have to do that more than 12,000 times."