Unknown, unelected state government bodies are not usually hot topics in elections. But the Georgia State Election Board has drawn well-deserved national attention with its outrageous actions on Tuesday to push through undemocratic changes to the swing state’s election rules. It has provided fodder for Donald Trumpand received sharp partisan praise at his recent rally in Atlanta. The current governor of Georgia. Brian Kemp should end his villainous deeds.
The panel used to be a sleepy, backwater, bipartisan body that steered clear of controversy. But earlier this year, the GOP-controlled state legislature appointed two new members to the five-member panel, turning it into a Trump-aligned governing body. Three of the panel’s five members have expressed doubts that President Joe Biden won the state in the 2020 election. The panel’s meetings have become a haven for false election conspiracy theories, many of which are based on Trump’s 2020 election lies.
Now the panel’s MAGA majority is trying to change Georgia’s election rules just before the election. The first attempt came last month but was reversed after a lawsuit accused the three members of holding an unlawful assembly to push through the changes. This week, however, they resumed their blistering attack on the Republican nominee.
One of the two new rules the committee adopted Tuesday allows local election officials to pause the vote count and delay or even reject certification altogether if they allege irregularities, essentially leaving the certification of election results at their own discretion. (Georgia law states in several places that local election board officials should perform their duties – that is, their duties are mandatory, not voluntary). Other proposed changes would increase the workload of overworked poll workers, which could overwhelm county election offices and ultimately slow or prevent certification.
These last-minute changes are supported by Republican Party officials, GOP operatives at the Republican National Committee, and MAGA-affiliated “election integrity” activists. These include local election officials and GOP officials who most likely believe Trump was cheated in the 2020 election.
And all of this builds on similar efforts in 2020, when a Coffee County election official delayed certification of Biden’s victory in Georgia and refused to certify the recount results, citing MAGA-backed election conspiracies. The same official allegedly helped Trump campaign staff obtain Coffee County’s election data days before Jan. 6. According to CNN, Coffee County was specifically mentioned in draft federal orders to seize voting machines presented to Trump in a chaotic Oval Office meeting on Dec. 18, 2020. In the same meeting, Rudy Giuliani alluded to a plan to gain “voluntary access” to Georgia’s voting machines.
In Georgia, the groundwork is currently being laid to prevent the certification of the 2024 election results. These recently passed rule changes, along with other proposed changes still under review by the panel, follow the refusal of Republican members of Georgia’s county election board to certify the election results of the 2023 local elections and the 2024 primary, despite there being no reasonable doubt about the results.
And that’s not all. After the 2024 Fulton County primary, Fulton County Board of Elections member Julie Adams filed suit to challenge a much-needed law that would prohibit local officials from refusing to certify. Adams is represented by the Trump-aligned America First Policy Institute and is part of the Election Integrity Network, whose founder Cleta Mitchell covered Trump’s infamous phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
Trump’s 2020 election interference strategy has not changed, but the MAGA operation has become more sophisticated. There are now election objectors holding local election offices in Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania (in addition to Georgia). GOP officials have resisted certifying the results in Arizona, Michigan, and Nevada.
Yet Georgia’s elections are under attack from Trump’s operation that appears to be more intense than any other effort the state has made nationwide. The state’s current lieutenant governor signed a certification that Trump won Georgia in 2020, calling himself a fake elector. After failing to overturn his 2020 loss, Trump now appears intent on winning Georgia by any means necessary, with the backing of the state’s election board. Trump may be alluding to this strategy when he recently claimed he “doesn’t need the votes,” an odd statement for a presidential candidate.
Trump’s comments may be an indication that he will use the strategy of his 2020 operation again, only better planned and executed. The person best placed to prevent that is Governor Brian Kemp. Although Kemp has continued to sign voter suppression laws inspired by Trump’s “big lie,” he has received praise from both parties for not going along with Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election. Will Kemp step in again to protect Georgia’s election from MAGA sabotage? Or will he continue to instigate it, as he has done in recent Georgia legislative sessions?
Under Georgia law, Kemp has the authority to investigate and remove and replace members of the Board of Elections if they violate Georgia law, which they appear to have done by holding an unlawful assembly. Even if Kemp supports Trump’s presidential bid, he should agree: Trump must win the votes of Georgia’s citizens fairly and honestly.
But the response doesn’t stop with the governor, of course. Others play important roles, too. In the last presidential race, pro-democracy activists like Georgia’s Fair Fight (where one of the co-authors, Groh-Wargo, serves as CEO) built voter protections in every crucial swing state, exposed Trump’s callous system of voter suppression, and helped mobilize the 2020 election that secured Biden’s victory in Georgia and gave Democrats control of the U.S. Senate. The pro-democracy ecosystem is once again working to protect voters’ ability to stay on the rolls, access ballots, vote, and have their votes counted in 2024.
Voters are the last and ultimately most important line of defense. The best way to ensure election results are certified in a timely manner is to have high voter turnout and a clear lead. Voters everywhere should also regularly check their voter registration status and get their friends and family registered today. It’s also not too early to make a voting plan, sign up as a poll worker in your community, or get involved with your state’s Democratic Party voter protection team. By exercising our freedom to vote, we can stop the MAGA election sabotage plan.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com.