The Republican-controlled Georgia State Election Board approved on Tuesday a measure that could empower local officials to refuse or delay certification of a county’s election results, creating the potential for another disputed and contentious post-election period in November.
The new rule states that before certifying results, local officials may conduct “reasonable inquiry” that “the results are a true and accurate accounting of all votes cast in that election.”
Though seemingly innocuous, the language implies that local election officials are awarded a level of discretion in the certification process, a suggestion that runs counter to decades of settled Georgia law delineating how results are officially certified. State law dictates that officials “shall” certify an election, making the process effectively ministerial; disputes over alleged fraud or major errors are typically left to recounts and courts.
The decision by the board worried Democrats and voting-rights advocates that the process could be weaponized if former President Donald J. Trump lost in November.
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Across the country, conservative organizations and allies of Mr. Trump have sought to create new laws or win court rulings granting local officials more authority over the certification process. In Arizona, conservatives are targeting the state’s election manual with several lawsuits. In Nevada, an official in the state’s second-largest county refused to certify a recent election, setting up a legal test at the State Supreme Court.
And in Georgia, even before the state election board’s meeting on Tuesday, allies of Mr. Trump were seeking a similar resolution in the courts. In May, the America First Policy Institute filed a lawsuit on behalf of a member of the Fulton County, Ga., election board, arguing that she had the discretion to refuse certification and conduct an investigation because, as part of her oath, she had sworn to “prevent fraud, deceit and abuse.”
