Lawsuit filed against State Election Board by Republicans to ‘rein in unelected’ members’ authority

ATLANTA — A Republican group is suing Georgia’s State Election Board to “rein in unelected appointees” on the board from overruling elected officials in the Georgia General Assembly.

The suit was filed in Fulton County court by Eternal Vigilance Action on Wednesday.

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According to Eternal Vigilance CEO Scot Turner, a former state legislator, said he supports the lawsuit, of which he is a plaintiff, to oppose “empowering the administrative state to act with the force of law.”

“Georgia’s laws written and approved by elected legislators and signed by a governor spell out how to conduct our elections, and our state constitution does not allow rules promulgated by unelected appointees on the State Election Board to supersede our laws,” Turner said in a statement.

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The lawsuit, according to a release from Eternal Vigilance, says “the SEB has promulgated rules that contravene the Election Code and violate the state constitution’s separation-of-powers and nondelegation mandates.” It demands that the court declare the board’s rules unconstitutional and prevent their implementation.”

In further commentary on the lawsuit, and the situation unfolding ahead of the November election, Turner said conservative activists were successful in a series of court battles to “rein in unelected bureaucrats with the U.S. Supreme Court decision to overturn Chevron Deference.”

The lawsuit filed in Fulton County is an attempt to apply the same “principle on the state level,” according to Turner.

He said “Georgia Republicans should support this conservative approach not only because it upholds our values, but also because they don’t want rules that allow Democratic election officials in our state’s largest population centers to delay certification for all of Georgia when Republicans win.”

As far as the overreach the lawsuit is working to rein in, recent moves by some of the Georgia State Election Board’s members regarding voting rights, election certification and a vote by certain members of the board to hand-count ballots at polling locations on election night.

Sec. of State Brad Raffensperger has come out against some of the proposed changes, particularly the hand counting proposal, saying the board was “misguided.” The Sec. of State has also said the recent actions by board members should have voters “concerned” and that they might not even be legal.

“Another day, another lawsuit for doing the right thing,” Republican board member Janelle King said in response to the lawsuit. “I will continue to do the work of the people with the goal of restoring faith in our election process.”

Channel 2 Action News has requested comment from the other members of the State Election Board and is waiting for their response or responses.

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