The Georgia State Election Board, which has become embroiled in conflict over how the state administers elections, voted Tuesday to redo some of its actions amid a lawsuit accusing it of meeting illegally.

The board voted 5-0 on Tuesday to debate again on Aug. 6 a pair of proposed rules sought by Republicans that three members advanced on July 12, including allowing more poll watchers to view ballot counting and requiring counties to provide the number of ballots received each day during early voting.

American Oversight, a liberal-leaning watchdog group, sued the board over the July 12 meeting where only board members Dr. Janice Johnston, Rick Jeffares and Janelle King were present. Democratic member Sara Tindall Ghazal was missing, as was nonpartisan board chair John Fervier,

The suit alleged the board broke Georgia law dealing with posting notices for a public meeting. It also alleged that at least three board members were required to physically be in the room, invalidating the meeting because Johnston attended remotely.

King had argued it was merely a continuation of the July 9 meeting and was properly noticed.

The board also voted to confirm new rules that it advanced on July 9 when all five members were present. Those measures have already been posted for public comment. They could be finalized by the board on Aug. 19, after a 30-day comment period.

One of those proposed rules would let county election board members review a broad array of materials before certifying election totals. Critics worry board members could refuse to certify until they study all the documents, which could delay finalization of statewide results, especially after some county election board members have refused to certify recent elections.

Other rules would require workers in each polling place to hand-count the number of ballots to make sure the total matches the number of ballots recorded by scanning machines, and require counties to explain discrepancies in vote counts.

During the July 12 meeting, Democrats and liberal voting activists decried the session as illegal.

“There was a weirdly overdramatic and excessive alarm raised — a seemingly coordinated misinformation campaign — followed by apparent media attacks and outrageous and ridiculous threats made to the State Election Board,” Johnston said in a statement Tuesday. She was appointed by the state Republican Party to the board and has led efforts to adopt rules favored by conservatives.

American Oversight’s interim executive director, Chioma Chukwu, called the decision a victory, saying the lawsuit had helped reverse the July 12 actions.

“However, we remain deeply concerned by the board’s decision to promptly revisit these problematic measures — including those coordinated with the state and national GOP — that serve to intimidate election workers and grant partisan advantage to preferred candidates this November,” she said in a statement.

Chukwu was referring to state Republican Party Chairman Josh McKoon’s claim that the party helped orchestrate the appointments of a majority of members and to emails that McKoon sent to Jeffares before July 9 with proposed rules and talking points.

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ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia’s largest school district announced Tuesday that it won’t teach a new Advanced Placement course in African American Studies, saying the state Department of Education’s refusal to approve the course means its students would be cheated out of credit for the difficulty of the work.

The decision by the 183,000-student Gwinnett County district means political pressure on state Superintendent Richard Woods is unlikely to ease. Woods attempted to compromise last week by saying local districts could draw state money to teach the AP material by labeling it as a lower-level introductory course. That came a day after Woods said districts would have to teach the course using only local tax money.

“Withholding state approval for this AP course sends the message that the contributions and experiences of African Americans are not worthy of academic study at the same level as other approved AP courses,” Gwinnett County Superintendent Calvin Watts said in a statement.

A spokesperson for Woods didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment Tuesday evening.

The Atlanta, DeKalb County and Cobb County school districts have all said they are offering the course in some high schools. But Gwinnett County is maybe the most influential district in the state, with others often following the lead of a system that contains more than a tenth of all Georgia public school students.

Woods has faced a rally where Democrats attacked the elected Republican, as well as pointed questions from Gov. Brian Kemp. The Republican Kemp sent a letter asking why and how Woods arrived at his original decision to block state funding. Woods responded to Kemp Thursday, but still hasn’t fully explained his objections.

“My primary concern and consideration was whether it was more appropriate to adopt the AP course in its 440-page totality at the state level, or to use the existing African American Studies course code and keep the review, approval, adoption, and delivery of this curriculum closer to local students, educators, parents, and boards,” Woods wrote to Kemp.

All other AP courses are listed in the state catalog, state Department of Education spokesperson Meghan Frick said last week.

If districts teach the course under the introductory code, students won’t get the extra credit that an AP course carries when the Georgia Student Finance Commission calculates grades to determine whether a student is eligible for Georgia’s HOPE Scholarship. It also won’t count as a rigorous course. A student who keeps a B average in high school and takes at least four rigorous courses earns a full tuition scholarship to any Georgia public college or university.

“Gwinnett is working tirelessly to do right by their students,” state Rep. Jasmine Clark, a Lilburn Democrat who is Black and helped spearhead pushback against Woods. “As a parent of GCPS student, all I want for my child is to have the same opportunities as students taking other AP courses, should she choose to want to learn more about the contributions of her ancestors in a rigorous, college-level course.”

The Advanced Placement course drew national scrutiny in 2023 when Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, preparing for his presidential run, said he would ban the course in his state because it pushed a political agenda. In June, South Carolina officials also refused to approve the course. South Carolina said individual districts could still offer it.

In Arkansas, state officials have said the course will count for credit in the coming school year. They denied such credit last year, but six schools taught the pilot course anyway.

Some individual districts around the country have also rejected the course.

In 2022, Georgia lawmakers passed a ban on teaching divisive racial concepts in schools, prohibiting claims that the U.S. is “fundamentally or systematically racist,” and mandating that no student “should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress because of his or her race.”

So far, 18 states have passed such bans. It is unclear if Georgia’s law influenced Woods’ decision.

The College Board, a nonprofit testing entity, offers Advanced Placement courses across the academic spectrum. The courses are optional and taught at a college level. Students who score well on a final exam can usually earn college credit.

The College Board said 33 Georgia schools piloted the African American Studies course in the 2023-2024 academic year.