Judge says election results must be certified on time, despite new state board rules

ATLANTA — A Fulton County judge said there should be no delays in certifying the election. This comes after a lawsuit against the State Election Board.

“First off, I don’t think ‘no’ is an option,” said Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney about county election board members and certifying election results.

While he has not issued a formal ruling, McBurney made clear in two hearings on Tuesday morning that he believes county election boards have no legal choice but to certify elections by a state-imposed deadline.

“The deadline is the deadline. Get done what you can. What is reasonable to one person might be not reasonable to another. But you make your inquiry and then it’s wheels up at 5 p.m. on the 12th of November,” McBurney said.

McBurney asked attorneys for the State Election Board and Republican party if they agreed, and both said on the record in court that certification is required under state law.

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But the Democratic party argued in their lawsuit that a new rule passed by the State Election Board could make county election board members believe they have the authority to vote against certification.

The lawsuit challenged a new rule requiring county election board members to take on “a reasonable inquiry” before certifying the election.

“Absent a ruling from this court, a county official could believe that the appropriate remedy, if they could not determine justly that a particular vote needs to be counted, to exclude it from the certification total to abstain from a vote on certification, to refuse to vote for certification,” said Ben Thorpe, an attorney for the plaintiffs.

In a separate hearing immediately following, attorneys for Republican Fulton County Election Board member Julie Adams argued just that.

In her lawsuit against Fulton County, Adams’ attorney argued she should have the authority to vote against certification, or to vote for certification of only some ballots.

McBurney seemed skeptical of that argument.

“If an individual board member doesn’t have to vote to certify, then you are creating a situation where the board doesn’t have to certify, thus the superintendent doesn’t have to certify. That seems to be in conflict with the law,” McBurney said.

The hearing did not deal with the most recent decision by the election board to require hand counting of ballots at every polling place in the state.

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