An open government group filed a lawsuit Thursday against the State Election Board, saying the board approved new rules during an illegal meeting last week.
Three members of the five-person board approved two election rules at a hastily called meeting Friday despite warnings from the attorney general’s office that the meeting might not comply with the Georgia Open Meetings Act. Now the left-leaning group American Oversight seeks to void the rules and penalize the board in a lawsuit filed late Thursday in Fulton County Superior Court.
One rule the board approved would allow more partisan poll monitors to observe ballot counting, and the other would require counties to post daily ballot tallies on their websites. American Oversight has asked the court to nullify last week’s board votes and fine the three Republican members who the group says broke the law.
“Any proposals voted upon during this meeting are null and void, and we ask the court to prevent them from moving ahead with the proposed rules and to declare their actions at last week’s meeting invalid,” the group said in announcing the lawsuit.
The Democratic Party of Georgia has also threatened to file a lawsuit over the issue if the board does not acknowledge its actions were improper by noon Friday.
The board members who approved the rules could not immediately be reached for comment.
The litigation stems from a meeting last Friday at which members Rick Jeffares, Janice Johnston and Janelle King approved the two rules at a meeting the board’s other two members could not attend. The previous day, the attorney general’s office warned the board that the meeting could be illegal on several grounds.
The Open Meetings Act requires at least a week’s notice for most meetings, and the meetings must be livestreamed for the public. Friday’s meeting apparently did not meet those criteria.
At the meeting and in interviews this week, the board members who attended the meeting said it was legal, citing a provision of the law that allows only 24 hours’ notice for emergency meetings or special circumstances. They said the rules had to be approved Friday to keep them alive for use in the November election.
The lawsuit says the three members “willfully and knowingly” violated the Open Meetings Act and asks the court to invalidate Friday’s votes.
A debate over election rules in Georgia has raged since then-President Donald Trump narrowly lost to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020. Trump claimed the election was rife with fraud, though numerous state and federal investigations and his own campaign found otherwise.
Trump tried unsuccessfully to overturn Biden’s victory and now faces criminal charges in Georgia and Washington as a result.
Jeffares, Johnston and King have all criticized the conduct of the 2020 election.
The state board already has proposed a rule allowing local election boards access to a vast array of documents as they decide whether to certify the November presidential election. Supporters say the move would allow local officials to ensure the results are valid; critics say it could inspire endless fishing expeditions that could justify refusing to certify a valid election.
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