Georgia High Court Rejects GOP Bid to Revive New Election Rules

A slate of GOP-backed election rules blocked by a Georgia trial court won’t be reinstated while Republicans appeal the lower court ruling, Georgia’s highest court said Tuesday.

The order from the Georgia Supreme Court means the rules likely won’t be in effect in the battleground state on election day as the Republican National Committee’s appeal to the lower court injunction moves through the court system.

The now-blocked rules include a directive to county officials to conduct a “reasonable inquiry” into the election before certifying results and a requirement that poll workers in each precinct hand-count ballots. The state election board’s Republican majority voted to adopt the rules over opposition from Democrats. The American Civil Liberties Union, two Georgia voters, and other groups successfully sued earlier this month to block them from taking effect.

The RNC filed an emergency motion asking Georgia’s highest court to step in and reinstate the rules during the RNC’s appeal and to expedite that appeal. But the one-page unanimous ruling Tuesday declined to do so.

Georgia Republican Party chairman Josh McKoon called the ruling “supremely disappointing.” The ACLU of Georgia said the court ruling refused “to allow the [state election board] to inject chaos and confusion into our democratic system.”

Georgia has been a hotbed of litigation over how it will run the election and certify the winner.

The ACLU and others represent challengers to the rules. Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP and others represent the RNC.

The case is Republican Nat’l Comm. v. Eternal Vigilance Action, Ga., 10/22/24.