Originally published at: What To Know About the MAGA-Run Georgia Board Trying to Delay Election Certification - TPM – Talking Points Memo
The Republican-controlled Georgia State Election Board approved a rule last week, only a few months shy of the presidential election, giving county officials new authority over election certification — and potentially giving the board the ability to delay certification of election results in a state that served as a hotbed for conspiracy theories pushed by…
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You ever wonder about those criminals wherein you ask yourself, “Why couldn’t they spend that time and energy on something good and positive rather than dedicating themselves to crime?”
This is one of those stories.
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The vagueness of this new rule also means that the process will likely be applied inconsistently throughout the state.
I guess that came from the Heritage Foundation’s “How to Create an Issue for the Federal Courts” brochure?
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What do we do about this?
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”We’re not asking the board to do a full election audit or a forensic audit…”
…because those have a nasty habit of just confirming that the vote counts were correct. Formless, unspecified, indefinite delay is much better than actual data. After all, facts are known to have a liberal bias.
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Ratfuckers all the way down.
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Check ID’s of all board members! Make sure they aren’t cats in disguise
You know them cats… can’t trust 'em
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So it’s basically the courts job to certify elections in Georgia now?
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Georgia Board will fold like a cheap camera. The idea of a “reasonable inquiry” time (as the only state) to hold up and or change the outcome in the transfer of power of a presidential election to the world’s most powerful nation is laughable.
Just a bunch of sorry-ass shitkickers.
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I guess Kamala’ll just have to organize her own slate of ‘alternate electors’, which I understand is completely reasonable and normal.
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I would expect a lawsuit shortly, this is really close to the election for such a large change in procedures. They should have information on what requires an investigation, training for election workers, documentation standards, deadlines to make sure the election is certified on time, all kinds of stuff should be implemented to make sure the election is run properly. They haven’t done any of that, just put in a vague statement that could allow bad actors to hold up election results for months.
That is, of course, their plan…if they can’t block Fulton county’s count then they can get some bright red county to refuse to certify, blocking state certification. It’s pretty transparent, and I doubt the state officials would go along with it (they refused to play games last time and won’t lift a finger to help Trump at this point).
I don’t see how this doesn’t generate a lawsuit by the end of the week, noting how close such a major change is to the election. And, I’d expect a judge to agree that changing the rules in a major way has to wait for full implementation. The process should take long enough that it will push this out, though if there are enough MAGA judges involved they could just decide to screw the process up in the hopes of helping Trump win. That’s always the worry nowadays, you never know which judges are MAGA, or which have taken enough bribes to do right wing bidding, or both, but if the judicial process runs how it should I’d expect this to be put on hold.
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I really wish TPM would make articles on here linkable to Threads. I hate sharing on FB (though I just posted this one) and I deleted my X account.
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All the GOP has are dirty tricks. If they had any faith in their supposedly popular plans, they wouldn’t need these nefarious schemes.
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1,000 likes
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Maybe someone can weigh in here. But if the election isn’t certified, does Biden remain President until it is? If something then happens to him, wouldn’t Harris then become President until the election is certified?
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The idea that one side is going to use the excuse that they themselves don’t like an election outcome to erase the will of the people and reverse an election is just fine, as in “this is fine,” until the next election, when the other side (1) pissed that the election deniers stole the previous election, (2) justly distrustful of the process, rebels.
This is a weapon they can use exactly one time. Then all hell breaks loose.
Let’s see how much of a burden “government” taxes & all of the stuff we find so difficult in society that functions ever are again, when everything we took for granted no longer works at all, because violence is the only rule.
Let’s see how much profit those business barons are bringing in if their “civil war” faction (yeah, Elon Musk, that type) have their way. Good luck with that, guys. Really, good luck.
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The joint session on J6 2025 will have the duty to accept or reject certificates of electoral votes sent in by the states and DC. This is sometimes referred to as “certifying” the election at the federal level.
What this article discusses is the certification by states of the presidential elections they each conducted to determine who its presidential electors would be. These elections are carried out under 51 different sets of election law, but my understanding is that all or at least most states require their election officials to certify a result before anyone can challenge that result in court. If one county’s election officials refuse to certify, that would prevent the state as a whole from certifying, so none of the usual court battles over election results we have seen in the past. We have to guess that courts, at state or federal level, would order the process unstuck by ordering that the certification take place.
If the process isn’t unstuck in time for the date in December specified in federal law for the electors to meet, then the state or states involved won’t be able to submit their certificates of EVs in time to avoid challenge at the joint session. In that case both House and Senate would have to agree, by simple majorities in each body, to accept or reject the irregular certificates. If they can’t agree, the election would still be decided in favor of Harris or Trump if the remaining unchallenged certificates add up to a 270+ majority. If they don’t, we either go with the contingent election, the vote by House delegations, or we wait for Congress to reach agreement on how to distribute the EVs from the states in dispute, as was done after the 1876 election.
That last possibility is what failure to certify the election at the federal level – not the state certification this article discusses – would be. If no president is chosen by noon on January 6, 2025, Biden cannot continue in office, because his term would be over. Harris would not succeed him, because her term as VP would also be over. The Speaker of the House would become president until such time as the new president was decided on by the joint session.
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And Bluesky. Even TPM has accounts on there.
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Has anyone filed a lawsuit to block implementation?
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Typical GQP BS. They know they can’t win fairly, so they cheat. A story as old as the hills.
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