Election board in crucial swing state issues controversial ruling requiring hand counting of ballots

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The election board in one of the most crucial swing states in the 2024 presidential election approved a controversial new rule that will require the hand counting of ballots on election night. 

The Georgia State Election Board voted 3-2 to approve a rule that requires poll workers to count the number of paper ballots by hand after voting is completed in a decision that was opposed by the state attorney general’s office, the secretary of state’s office and an association of county election officials but supported by many conservatives.

Three board members who were praised by former President Donald Trump during a rally last month in Atlanta voted to approve the measure.

Critics of the move say that the measures came at the last minute and will delay reporting results in the state.

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Georgia is expected to be one of the most crucial swing states in the November election (Brandon Bell/Getty Images.)

In a memo sent to election board members Thursday, the office of state Attorney General Chris Carr said no provision in state law allows counting the number of ballots by hand at the precinct level before the ballots are brought to county election superintendent for vote tallying. As a result, the memo says, the rule is "not tethered to any statute" and is "likely the precise kind of impermissible legislation that agencies cannot do."

The new rule, according to the Associated Press, requires that the number of paper ballots — not the number of votes — be counted at each polling place by three separate poll workers until all three counts are the same. If a scanner has more than 750 ballots inside at the end of voting, the poll manager can decide to begin the count the following day.

The board's chair, John Fervier, a Republican, voted against the rule, saying the "overwhelming number of election officials" who reached out to him were opposed to the change.

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Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is shown in this Oct. 18, 2022 file photograph speaking during the Atlanta Press Club Loudermilk-Young Debate Series in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Ben Gray File)

"I do think it's too close to the election," Fervier said. "It's too late to train a lot of poll workers."

Other conservatives on social media praised the move as a step in the right direction to avoid voter fraud including former Trump spokesperson Liz Harrington who posted on X that the decision was "great news."

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'I Voted' stickers sit on a table at a polling station. 

"YES!!!" Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene posted on X. "Way to go GA State Election Board!! Thank you for taking every step to fight for election integrity!!"

In 2020, approximately five million votes were cast in the presidential race statewide, more than half in early voting.

Recent polling shows that Harris and Trump are neck-and-neck in Georgia with approximately 46.9% of voters currently saying they would vote for Trump, compared to 44.4% of voters who say they would cast their vote for Harris. 

Fox News Digital's Timothy HJ Nerozzi, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.