Fulton judge says Georgia law requires county election officials to certify results

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney ruled on Oct. 14, 2024, that Georgia law mandates that county election board officials certify election results. (Photo by Stanley Dunlap/Georgia Recorder)A Fulton County judge ruled Tuesday that county election board members cannot refuse to certify election results.

Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney’s ruling clarifies that the state’s election certification law mandates that local election officials certify elections. The law has been challenged in several lawsuits, including a complaint filed by Republican Fulton County election board member Julie Adams, who refused to join her colleagues to certify the March presidential preference primary.

Adams abstained from voting in March to certify results, claiming the Fulton election board had illegally permitted its staff to run elections in a county she says was plagued by shoddy election operations in recent years.

Adams argued in the lawsuit that board members have the option to refuse to certify election results if they have reason to believe they are inaccurate. She also alleged that she was improperly denied access to election records prior to certification.

The Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections countered that certifying election results is purely a ministerial function of local election officials.

The role of an election superintendent and county election board in certifying election is ministerial and mandatory, despite the fact that many other aspects of their positions are discretionary, McBurney wrote.

Early voting

McBurney’s ruling comes as Georgia voters head to the polls Tuesday for the start of the three-week early voting period for the Nov. 5 election.

Local election officials should be able to inspect election records to ensure that elections were conducted properly as long as the information is not confidential, McBurney said.

“However, any delay in receiving such information is not a basis for refusing to certify the election results or abstaining from doing so,” McBurney wrote.

Georgia law requires election boards to certify the election results no later than 5 p.m. on the Monday following the election. Several procedures can be used to determine the accuracy of results, including risk-limiting audits, ballot recounts, and litigation.

The state’s election certification law has also been subject to intense debates during recent State Election Board meetings. A right-wing faction of the election board this summer passed rules giving county election officials access to election records before deciding whether the vote should be certified.

After the 2020 presidential election, a number of Georgia Republicans who embraced Donald Trump’s unfounded claims about massive voter fraud have publicly pushed back on election boards certifying results in subsequent elections.

Election experts have predicted this year’s primary provided a template for what could happen in the November general election, especially if Trump loses again.

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