A Georgia determine ruled on Monday that state election officials are required to deliver poll results by a set date even if they are concerned about voter fraud or other issues.
In Monday’s ruling, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney said,” 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”, according to Fox News.
McBurney argued that state election officials have the authority to investigate election concerns, but that any delay in getting such information is not a justification for abstaining from certifying the election results.
On the Monday or Tuesday following the election, Georgia’s personal districts may be required to submit a report to Fox News that will be available by 5 p.m. The court’s announcement on Monday also came as Georgia began the preliminary in-person election process, which will close on November 1.
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In his ruling, McBurney wrote,” If election supervisors were, as Plaintiff urges, free to play investigator, prosecutor, judge, and judge and therefore — because of a punitive determination of error or fraud — refuse to accept election results, Georgia citizens would be silenced. That is not permitted by our Constitution and our Election Code.
The Georgia jury’s decision, according to Fox News, was made following a lawsuit brought by Fulton County Board of Registration and Election part Julie Adams. Adams ‘ complaint against the Fulton County Elections Board, which was supported by the America First Policy Institute, came after she voted against certifying the national major results in May.
According to The Hill, Adams claimed in her lawsuit that she was unable to take the oath of office as director after being denied a request for paperwork. Adams claimed that by failing to confirm the results, she was acting within her freedom.
According to McBurney, Georgia regulation does not provide state election officials the authority to determine whether scams took place during an election or what should be done in response to a suspected fraud. According to McBurney,” Concerns about scams or structural failure are not a foundation for a superintendent to decrease to accept,” but they should be reported and shared with the correct authorities.