In Georgia, upon the polls closing in a presidential election, the ballots cast are promptly tallied and results reported. Days later, after the dust settles, the official tally gets certified by election superintendents. The superintendents certify the election results in their respective county then will transmit those results to the Secretary of State, who in turn “shall thereupon certify” the state tally. Following the Secretary of State’s certification, the Governor then certifies the state’s presidential electors.
For many counties in Georgia, the election superintendent is an elections board, rather than a single individual. Certification occurs when the elections board meets following the election and a majority of the board’s members vote to certify the election results. For this election, county superintendents must have certified their county’s results by November 12, 2024 “not later than 5:00 P.M.,” a deadline established by statute.
Some county election officials, however, have called into question the rigidity of this deadline and, indeed, whether certification must occur at all. Earlier this year, an elections board member for Fulton County filed a lawsuit asking a court to rule that votes on certification are discretionary.
The court disagreed, holding that certification is mandatory and that “no election superintendent (or member of a board of elections and registration) may refuse to certify or abstain from certifying election results under any circumstance.” The elections board member who filed the lawsuit has appealed that ruling. She sought expedited review, but the Court of Appeals denied that request.
Even with a court having reaffirmed that certification of elections is mandatory under Georgia law, it remains unclear whether all county election officials in the state will vote to certify the 2024 elections results. Following the 2020 presidential election, Georgia led all states with the number of election officials who voted not to certify election results. To date, as many as 19 county election officials in the state have cast votes against certifying the results of elections.
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