ATLANTA — County election officials in Georgia are asking the State Election Board to stop changing the rules ahead of the November election, citing concerns about creating unnecessary confusion for poll workers and voters.

The state board has been considering a slew of rule proposals in recent months and has adopted several of them. At a meeting Monday, state board members adopted a new rule having to do with certification of election results and indicated they planned to consider more rules at a meeting on Sept. 20.

Any rules adopted at the September meeting would take effect 20 days later, after overseas and military ballots have started to go out and just as in-person early voting is about to begin.

The Georgia Association of Voter Registration and Election Officials, known as GAVREO, said in a statement Tuesday that its members are “gravely concerned” that any additional changes will disrupt poll worker preparation and training that is already underway.

“Any last-minute changes to the rules risk undermining the public’s trust in the electoral process and place undue pressure on the individuals responsible for managing the polls and administering the election,” organization president W. Travis Doss Jr. said in the statement. “This could ultimately lead to errors or delays in voting, which is the last thing anyone wants.”

Two members of the five-person State Election Board — the nonpartisan chair and the lone Democrat on the panel — have similarly expressed concerns about enacting new rules so close to the November election. But a trio of Republican members who have won the praise of former President Donald Trump have pushed ahead with adopting new rules.

“We urge the State Election Board to seriously consider the impact of further rule changes and to prioritize the integrity and smooth operation of the upcoming election,” Doss said in the GAVREO statement. “Our poll workers, election administrators and voters deserve clarity and consistency in the rules that will guide this critical process.”

The Georgia State Election Board has been accused of voter suppression after introducing new rules before the 2024 presidential election.

The changes were voted in by the three Republican members of the election board, while the board’s two non-Republicans voted against them. The new rules allow local officials more power to dispute election results by adopting a new ballot-counting policy. They state that, if a result is disputed in an electoral area, all votes must be counted by hand to ensure that they match the official number of votes cast.

A year ago, a Georgia grand jury accused Trump and others of illegally trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election in the state. The former president has denied all charges against him and repeatedly said that the case is part of a political witch hunt against him because he is the GOP presidential nominee.

The case has been delayed ever since, with no prospect of going to trial, after one of the former president’s co-defendants, Michael Roman, a Trump campaign staffer and former White House aide, alleged in a court filing that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis had improperly engaged in a romantic relationship with lawyer Nathan Wade, whom she had picked to lead the prosecution against Trump and 18 others.

The new rules allow local election officials to deny election certification until the dispute is resolved.

Critics say that it is being introduced so that Donald Trump can again contest the Georgia result and begin a process of disruption and delay if he loses the election.
The three Republican board members voted to adopt the new measures, while the other two members, a Democrat and an independent, voted against.

Newsweek sought email comment from the Georgia State Election Board and the Trump campaign on Wednesday.

The proposal was submitted to the board by Salleigh Grubbs, chairperson of the Cobb County Republicans.

“We have to have assurance, as Georgians, that what we see printed on our ballot is exactly accurate, and the only way to do that is by a handwritten affiliation on the precinct level,” Grubbs told the board at Monday’s meeting.

Voting rights organization Fair Fight said the rule changes are being introduced so that Republicans would disrupt the election if Trump loses.

“Trump and his MAGA allies have taken over the Georgia State Election Board to try and give a veneer of legality to their illegal scheme to disrupt the certification of Georgia’s 2024 election results,” Fair Fight CEO Lauren Groh-Wargo said in a statement.

“Many of Trump’s key election denier allies and Republican Party operatives are behind these illegal, anti-freedom changes to Georgia election rules, and it’s all with the goal of helping Trump win the Peach State, even if he doesn’t earn a majority of Georgians’ votes.”

The Georgia Association of Voter Registration and Election Officials (GAVREO) also opposes the new rules.

Legal analyst Joyce Vance also condemned the changes. The former Alabama prosecutor is a liberal commentator and a frequent critic of Trump. “Voter suppression is nothing new in the South. But anti-voting activity is ramping up in Georgia because the state that delivered its 16 electoral votes to Joe Biden in 2020 along with two senators to create the Democratic majority in the Senate is firmly in play in 2024,” she wrote in her legal blog, Civil Discourse, on Tuesday.

“The most significant rules change the three board members—each of whom questioned the results of the 2020 election—have slipped in just ahead of this year’s election is one that allows local election officials to delay or deny certification if they have concerns about the outcome. No standard for judging whether those concerns are valid was established,” she wrote.

CHICAGO – Former President Jimmy Carter is staying home from this year’s Democratic National Convention, but his grandson Jason Carter took the stage Tuesday night and delivered a speech in his honor, including an update on the 99-year-old Georgia native.

“Paw Paw is holding on,” he said. “He’s hopeful, and though his body may be weak tonight, his spirit is as strong as ever.”

Jimmy Carter, who is set to celebrate his 100th birthday in October, is the longest-living president in American history and the only president from Georgia.

He entered hospice care in early 2023. Jason Carter, a former state senator and gubernatorial candidate, said in May that he believes his grandfather is nearing the end, but has since said his grandfather is holding on to cast his vote for Vice President Kamala Harris as president.

“My grandfather can’t wait to vote for Kamala Harris. She reminds us all that the promise of America remains unchanged,” Jason Carter said.

Former first lady Rosalynn Carter, Jimmy Carter’s wife of 77 years, died in November.

“I can tell you that he wishes he could be here tonight,” Jason Carter said. “He and my grandmother led their lives with an unwavering faith in God, a respect for human dignity, honesty and a commitment to loving their neighbors as themselves. Those principles guided them throughout their lives, including during their four years in the White House and the four decades since. For my grandfather, it was never about fame, recognition, accolades or awards, his legacy is measured by the lives he has touched and the good he has done.”

“Kamala Harris carries my grandfather’s legacy,” he added. “She knows what is right, and she fights for it. She understands that leadership is about service, not selfishness, that you can show strength and demonstrate decency, and that you can get a whole lot more done with a smile than with a scowl.”

Throughout the United Center Tuesday, Democrats from around the nation shared well wishes for and fond memories of Jimmy Carter.

Kevin Jacobson, an alternate delegate from Wisconsin, said he wasn’t around for the Carter administration, but decided to research Carter after learning that he had solar panels installed on the White House back in 1979.

“He was very present, I think he was looking very forward,” Jacobson said. “He did so many things around clean energy, even back in so long before we even knew what climate change really was. So I’ve always really appreciated him. He comes from such humble roots, and I think that we should get back to those roots as the Democratic Party.”

Fellow Wisconsinite Josefine Jaynes agreed.

“Something that has always struck me about Jimmy Carter is that he is just a man of faith, and I think sometimes Dems are afraid to talk about faith and lean into faith, and Jimmy Carter showed that Republicans don’t own Christianity, so I really like just how important his faith is to him.”

Carter was known to teach Sunday school classes at Maranatha Baptist Church in his hometown of Plains Georgia until 2020.

Jake Metcalfe, former party chair for the Democratic Party in Alaska, said folks there remember Carter for the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, which set aside more than 100 million acres of land.

“His administration was responsible for providing land for parks, and that was controversial at the time, but he saved a lot of the country and helped preserve the land of Alaska,” Metcalfe said. “So some people see him as a hero, some people see him as a president that prevented development, but I think more people in Alaska like him now and are happy with what he did.”

Metcalfe said he’s in the latter camp.

“He’s going to go down as one of our better presidents and, you know, he’s one of the few guys, few presidents that has basically not cashed in and has done a lot for his country and his community,” he said.

Carter was celebrated more for his post-presidency accomplishments, including as a mediator and volunteer. He was particularly known for showing up to Habitat for Humanity job sites and helping to construct homes well into his advanced years.

“I’m glad of what he has done and what he’s accomplished in his life and how he’s been able to lead a footprint to show what you can do after your presidency,” said New York state Sen. Leroy Comrie. “And I hope that other people can follow in his footsteps and not worry about being elected to find a cause or an issue that they want to work on and put their time and effort into it.”