'Chaos that it is sowing': Georgia judge appears skeptical of ballot hand-count rule

A Georgia judge appeared skeptical of a controversial new rule from the Georgia State Election Board at a court hearing Tuesday. The rule would require thousands of state voting precincts to hand count ballots in the November election.

The speedily-scheduled hearing was held in a lawsuit brought by the election board for Cobb County, near Atlanta, which is one of several litigants suing to block the rule from taking effect in the final weeks before the Nov. 5 election.

The new rule, which was passed Sept. 20, would require three separate individuals in each precinct to count the number of ballots by hand and confirm each of their counts matches those of the others. A poll manager must also confirm those figures match tallies produced by machines, and work to correct any inconsistency.

The rule is one of several late election changes from three Republican members of the five-person state election board. The trio was praised by former President Donald Trump at an August rally as "pit bulls fighting for honesty, transparency, and victory."

Georgia's Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, has criticized the hand-count rule and other recent changes as introducing "the opportunity for error, lost or stolen ballots, and fraud."

Studies have found hand-counting ballots to be slower and less accurate than machine-counting.

"Why wouldn't we just pause, especially on the hand-count rule, given what looks like a fairly robust record of chaos that it is sowing?" Judge Robert C. I. McBurney asked Robert Thomas, a lawyer for the state board.

The rule's backers say it will strengthen the process of certifying election results, but critics say it could spur chaos and confusion in the vote-counting process.

'You dumped a problem in their lap'

Arguing for the state board, Robert Thomas said Tuesday that the Cobb County election board was simply speculating about the burdens the new rule would impose, and that it's not appropriate for a judge to declare a rule is invalid based on that kind of conjecture.

McBurney responded by suggesting that election workers are in a better position than the state election board to say what will be a problem. The Cobb County board has said, in its county alone, at least 444 precinct workers across its 148 precincts would need to be trained on the new rule in the final few weeks before the election.

McBurney also noted that a wide array of officials and election workers have come out against the rule.

Ahead of the state board's decision to adopt the rule, Georgia Republican Attorney General Chris Carr advised that it was probably illegal. The Georgia Association of Voter Registration and Election Officials, a nonpartisan group of more than 500 Georgia officials and staff, said the rule could delay results, set fatigued employees up to fail, and undermine public confidence in the election.

In the same lawsuit in which it is challenging the hand-count rule, the Cobb County board is challenging five other recent rules.

"You dumped a problem in their lap ... a few weeks before it needs to be put into operation," McBurney said to state election board lawyer Robert Thomas Tuesday. McBurney was speaking of the hand-count rule's burden on county boards.

"What's the wisdom of that, and what's the necessity for that, as opposed to, 'Alright, let's make sure that we get to try this out, and this will be effective the next election?'" McBurney asked.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Chaos': Georgia judge appears skeptical of election hand-count rule