Georgia Supreme Court rejects bid to hand count ballots for November election

The Georgia Supreme Court on Tuesday unanimously rejected the state election board’s controversial mandate that would require poll workers to hand-count the number of ballots cast for the 2024 election.

The Republican National Committee asked the high court to intervene on the issue, after a lower court stopped the rules last week. The election board passed the rules, which critics warned would wreak havoc on their vote counting system, in a 3-2 vote last month. The hand-count would be used to verify the number of ballots cast matched the voting machines' totals.

The state Supreme Court did not comment on the rejection, but said requests for “emergency” and “expedited” relief were denied. The court also prevented the implementation of a rule allowing officials to conduct a “reasonable inquiry” into the 2024 election results before the state certifies them.

The order on Tuesday does not permanently slam the door on requiring hand-counts on ballots. The Supreme Court said it would consider the election board's ability to issue new rules "in the ordinary course," which could take six months or more, according to Politico.

Supporters of the measure hoped the new rules would help identify and correct errors early in the process, but critics warned it would delay election reports, and could cause even more errors.

Misty Severi is an evening news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.