The Cobb County Board of Elections and Registration filed a court action seeking clarification on the new rules enacted by the State Election Board (SEB). The rules have been widely criticized as conflicting with existing election law, disruptive, and exceeding the SEB’s authority. The state Attorney General and the Secretary of State contend that the rules are likely invalid and would not withstand a legal challenge.

Cobb County posted the following information about the filing on its website:

The Cobb County Board of Elections and Registration (BOER) has filed a verified petition in Fulton County Superior Court seeking clarity over the State Election Board’s (SEB) recently adopted rules, which significantly altered Election Day procedures 46 days prior to the November General Election.                 

At its most recent meeting, BOER voted to take action, echoing the legal objections raised by the Georgia Attorney General and Secretary of State to the six new rules adopted by the SEB in September.  The lawsuit contends that the SEB’s recently adopted rules are likely invalid because they exceed that board’s statutory authority, were not correctly enacted, are unreasonable, and were adopted too close to the November election.

Among the rules passed by the SEB is a new requirement to hand count ballots on election night at each precinct, which the Secretary of State has said “would disrupt existing chain of custody protocols under the law and needlessly introduce the risk of error, lost ballots, or fraud.”  Another rule would alter longstanding policies for poll watcher access in tabulation centers, which could result in overcrowding in already confined spaces, could undermine security, and will restrict election superintendents from determining where observation is most appropriate for their particular tabulation center.  Other rules requiring new processes for reconciling ballots would be burdensome to implement this close to the election, especially with poll worker training already underway.

The BOER filing asks the court to determine whether the rules are valid, noting that election officials from around the state have raised “the immense—and likely insurmountable—burdens these last-minute rule changes would create for election workers.”

No hearing date has been set.

Verified Petition for Declaratory Relief Georgia Attorney General’s Office letter objecting to the SEB rules

About the Cobb County Board of Elections and Registration

On its web page, the Cobb County Board of Elections and Registration describes its mission as follows:

“The mission of the Elections Department is to register citizens of Cobb County to vote; to ensure that elections are free, impartial, fair, accurate, convenient and accessible to all voters; to encourage voter participation; to provide excellent customer service to voters, candidates, and the media; and to help the public understand and follow all laws, rules and regulations.

“The Elections Department, with oversight from the Cobb County Board of Elections and Registration, enforces strict adherence to all current Federal, State and Local laws as well as to State Election Board Rules concerning registering to vote and voting, and serves all citizens in election related matters.”

The board has five members, with two appointed by the state legislative delegation, one each appointed by the Cobb Democratic and Republican parties, and one appointed by the Chairwoman of the Cobb County Board of Commissioners.

Since both the majority of the  legislative delegation and the BOC chairwomanship  is Democratic at this time, appointments by Democrats account for four of the five seats.

Here is the current composition of the board: