Raffensperger blasts proposed rule requiring hand count of ballots at Georgia polling places

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia’s secretary of state on Thursday came out against election rule changes pending before the State Election Board, specifically rejecting a proposal to count ballots by hand at polling places on election night.

At a meeting in July, the board advanced a proposal that would require three separate poll workers to count ballots at voting precincts on election night to make sure they match the number of ballots recorded by voting machines. That proposal has been posted for public comment and the board is set to vote Monday whether to adopt it.

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, the state’s top elections official, called that effort “misguided,” saying it would delay the reporting of election results and introduce risks to chain of custody procedures.

“Activists seeking to impose last-minute changes in election procedures outside of the legislative process undermine voter confidence and burden election workers,” Raffensperger said in a news release.

The State Election Board has received a slew of rule proposals in recent months, many of them coming from activists aligned with former President Donald Trump, who continues to complain without evidence that widespread voter fraud cost him victory in Georgia’s 2020 presidential election. Trump and his supporters have consistently blasted Raffensperger for his steadfast defense of the integrity of that election.

<bsp-list-loadmore data-module="" class=«PageListStandardB» data-gtm-region=«RELATED COVERAGE» data-gtm-topic=«No Value» data-show-loadmore=«true» data-gtm-modulestyle=«List B»> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> RELATED COVERAGE </bsp-custom-headline> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> Big Georgia county to start charging some costs