Election officials in Georgia and other states believe the courts will prevent local election boards from delaying or disrupting certification of the November election.
Some local board members in Georgia have argued that it is up to them to certify election results, and some have voted against certifying recent elections. But election officials from Georgia, Michigan and New Mexico told reporters during a briefing on Monday that local boards are required to certify election results shortly after the election. And if those boards try to shirk that responsibility, they expect judges to step in.
“Don’t be coy,” Gabe Sterling, the chief deputy to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, advised election officials across the country at Monday’s briefing. “Basically say, ‘If you try to do this, we’re going to bring the power of the courts against you.’”
In Georgia and across the country, local boards meet to count ballots and certify the results of elections as part of a larger process of ensuring the accuracy of results. Until recently, those local votes were mundane affairs noted only by the most politically interested observers.
But that’s changed in recent years after former President Donald Trump and his supporters spread false tales of voting fraud in the 2020 election and tried to persuade local board members to refuse to certify the results. Trump now faces criminal charges in Georgia and Washington for trying to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s victory.
An Atlanta Journal-Constitution investigation recently found at least 19 local election board members in Georgia who voted against certifying elections since 2020.
For more than a century, state laws and numerous court cases have said that the job of local election boards is merely to count the ballots. Investigations of fraud or serious irregularities are left to the courts. But in recent lawsuits, some Republicans have argued that local board members’ duties are discretionary — that is, they can refuse to certify results if they deem them to be inaccurate.
New rules approved by the Republican majority on the State Election Board direct local board members to certify after a “reasonable inquiry” and allow them to review voluminous election documents to determine if the results are valid.
In a lawsuit, the Democratic Party and allied groups say the state board overstepped its authority and have asked a judge to declare that local board’s duties are “ministerial,” not discretionary.
At Monday’s briefing, election officials asserted that the law is settled: Local boards must certify the results after tallying the votes. And they expect judges to affirm that position.
“The law is clear, and we will enforce it,” Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson told reporters.
That doesn’t mean there won’t be attempts to delay or deny certification of the hotly contested presidential election. And Republicans might not be the only ones objecting. David Becker, executive director for the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Election Innovation & Research, said he believes Democrats also may challenge the results.
Becker said the courts are the proper place for parties to challenge election results, not local election boards. He also said he believes any attempt to contest the election through local boards will fail.
“I am 100% confident that the (legitimate) winner of the election will take the oath of office,” Becker said. “Any effort to delay or stop certification will fail to allow the loser of the election to steal the election.”
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