A Georgia judge has halted seven new election rules favored by former President Donald Trump, citing concerns that they would disrupt the electoral process. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thomas Cox issued a ruling on Wednesday, nullifying a mandate for hand-counting ballots and two additional regulations related to the certification of election results.
Judge Cox stated, “The rules at issue exceed or are in conflict with specific provisions of the Election Code. Thus, the challenged rules are unlawful and void.”
As early voting commenced in Georgia on Tuesday, a record number of voters participated, leading up to the election day on November 5. Over 459,000 residents cast their votes on the first day—more than triple the previous record of 136,000 set in 2020.
In that year’s presidential election, nearly five million votes were cast in Georgia, with Democrat Joe Biden narrowly winning the state by approximately 12,000 votes. Trump has since contested this outcome and faces criminal charges concerning alleged efforts to overturn the election results. A recorded phone call revealed Trump urging Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes.”
A judge overseeing the case previously dismissed one charge related to that call and five others, but Georgia prosecutor Fani Willis has since sought to reinstate the dismissed counts.
The invalidated hand-count rule would have imposed a requirement for three poll workers in Georgia’s over 6,500 precincts to manually count ballots already scanned by machines. Critics contended that this would slow down the reporting of election results, while supporters argued it would only add minimal time to the count.
Following its enactment by the Republican-controlled State Election Board in August, the new rules faced criticism from Democrats. Trump had previously praised the board as “pit bulls fighting for transparency, honesty and victory.”
In his ruling, Judge Cox also criticized a regulation mandating county officials conduct a “reasonable inquiry” before certifying results, characterizing it as an unnecessary complication in the certification process. Another invalidated rule would have allowed county election officials to inspect all election-related documents, prompting debate over its potential to delay certification.
Judge Robert McBurney had previously blocked the hand-count rule, predicting that its last-minute implementation would undermine public confidence and lead to administrative chaos, stressing, “Anything that adds uncertainty and disorder to the electoral process disserves the public.”
The hand-count ruling was welcomed by some campaigns, who viewed the rules as attempts to instigate doubt surrounding the voting process. In a subsequent decision, Judge McBurney declared that election board members must certify vote results, following a Republican appointee’s refusal to certify the results of Georgia’s presidential primary earlier this year.
Georgia, often referred to as the Peach State, is among seven critical swing states anticipated to influence the outcome of the presidential race between Trump and his opponent.
