A Georgia judge ruled on Tuesday that county election officials must certify election results by the legal deadline, including any number of votes suspected of being fraudulent.
“No election superintendent (or member of a board of elections and registration) may refuse to certify or abstain from certifying election results under any circumstance,” ruled Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney. Georgia law requires county election superintendents to certify results by 5:00 P.M. the Monday immediately following an election (this year, it will be Tuesday as Monday falls on a holiday).
The judge rebuffed the claims made by Fulton County election board member Julie Adams. Adams voted against certifying this year’s presidential primary election results.
“If election superintendents were, as plaintiff urges, free to play investigator, prosecutor, jury, and judge and so — because of a unilateral determination of error or fraud — refuse to certify election results, Georgia voters would be silenced,” McBurney claimed. “Our Constitution and our election code do not allow for that to happen.”
“This does not leave the superintendent (or board member) without recourse or the means to voice substantive concerns about an election outcome,” McBurney reassured.
“The claims of fraud from one side are tested by the opposing side in that open court — rather than being silently “adjudicated” by a superintendent outside the public space, resulting in votes being excluded from the final count without due process being afforded those electors.”
Adams did express optimism about one part of the ruling, however, which requires county election board members to receive election documents before certification votes.
“Having access to the entire election process will allow every board member to know and have confidence in the true and accurate results before the time for certification,” Adams said. “The only way to ensure that the results are accurate is for board members such as myself to be fully knowledgeable about all aspects of the election.”
The ruling comes amid a separate court case in which Cobb County’s election board is suing the State Election Board over the latter’s imposition of an election-night hand count of each ballot cast.
Early voting began on Tuesday in the swing state.