4 days ago
Elections board member says she still believes rules were ‘beneficial' despite Supreme Court ruling
In a massive 96-page ruling, the Georgia Supreme Court struck down four controversial rules on Tuesday that the State Election Board tried to implement right before last year's presidential election
The justices said the SEB went way beyond its authority when it required each precinct to hand count ballots and allowed local election board members to refuse to certify results.
Chief Justice Nels Peterson wrote, 'The SEB can pass rules to implement and enforce the election code, but it cannot go beyond, change, or contradict the law.'
Scot Turner heads a group of former GOP lawmakers who challenged the rules in court.
'I think it's a tremendous victory for conservatism,' Turner told Channel 2's Richard Elliot.
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Other groups joined in later, including the ACLU and the NAACP.
Turner said the SEB basically tried to create laws, something blatantly unconstitutional.
'Nobody elected the State Election Board members, and they took it upon themselves to create new laws. That's a separation of powers issue. It becomes a major problem when you allow that to go unchecked,' Turner said.
Election board member Janelle King said she respects the ruling but still believes in the rules they tried to pass.
'I absolutely respect our judicial system,' King said.
King told Elliot that they'll now focus their attention on convincing lawmakers to either give the SEB the legal authority to make these rule changes or change the rules themselves.
'I still wholeheartedly believe that these rules are beneficial, useful, and the intent is still there. However, now the ball is in the court of our legislators,' King said.
Just hours after the Supreme Court announced its decision, the Georgia House announced its blue-ribbon study committee on election procedures will meet for the first time on July 17.
