Georgia to hand count votes

[TC Talks]

Look at this horseshit. The Georgia AG has already advised them this is illegal.

The Georgia State Election Board voted on Friday to force counties to hand-count all ballots cast on Election Day, a move critics say could significantly delay the reporting of results in the battleground state and inject chaos into the post-election period.

The new rule, which passed on a 3-2 vote, runs counter to extensive legal advice from the top election official and law enforcement officials in the state. A nonpartisan collective of local election officials had also objected to the change.

The new rule is the latest in a stream of right-wing election policies passed by the State Election Board over the past few months. The board has come under increasing pressure from critics already concerned that it has been rewriting the rules of the game in a key swing state to favor former President Donald J. Trump. Last month, the board granted local officials new power over certifying the election, which opponents say could potentially disrupt the process if Mr. Trump loses in November.

The new rule to require hand counting in addition to a machine count, critics argue, could introduce errors and confusion into the process and potential disrupt the custody of ballots.

To start hand-counting on election night, poll workers would likely have to break open the seals on boxes of completed ballots, possibly exposing the ballots to fraud or loss. In previous elections, ballots remain sealed and stored securely unless a recount was ordered.

The hand-counting rule was among nearly a dozen election changes under consideration on Friday. The proposals included a variety of conservative policy goals like expanding access for partisan poll watchers. The proposals come just 46 days before the election, after poll workers have been trained and ballots have been mailed to overseas voters.

On Thursday, the attorney general’s office took the rare step of weighing in on the proposed rules, saying they “very likely exceed the board’s statutory authority.” Elizabeth Young, a senior assistant attorney general, characterized five specific proposals as either exceeding the board’s legal reach or as an unnecessary redundancy, including the hand-counting proposal.

“There are thus no provisions in the statutes cited in support of these proposed rules that permit counting the number of ballots by hand at the precinct level prior to delivery to the election superintendent for tabulation,” Ms. Young wrote in a letter, which was reviewed by The New York Times. “Accordingly, these proposed rules are not tethered to any statute — and are, therefore, likely the precise type of impermissible legislation that agencies cannot do.”

[zzand]

It could take days to know the results. Courts will do away with this hopefully. But on the good side, if Trump loses he can't say the votes were not all counted. This could end up biting his butt big time

[Rate This]

The Republican Party is now the party of outright cheating because they cannot win anymore. It is one of the most corrupt political parties in the western world at this point.

[tigerwings]

Easier to miscount by hand than machine. A way to find the 11780 votes?

[Honeyman]

Just blatant cheating.

Another example: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/nebraska ... b76ff7a149

[radiofann]

Suppose Kamala Harris is behind by 5000 votes, or 1000, or less. Who’s gonna want a hand count then? I guess this works both ways.

[Turkeytop]

In Canada we hand count all the votes, and we usually know the final outcome that same evening, even in the largest cities. I always volunteer for my party to supervise the counting at one of the polls. It's a boring job, but it usually only takes a couple of hours.

[Rate This]

Just blatant cheating.

Another example: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/nebraska ... b76ff7a149

At least they have to drag the legislature back into session and since it's part time those folks have real jobs they may not be able to just set down.

[Rate This]

Suppose Kamala Harris is behind by 5000 votes, or 1000, or less. Who’s gonna want a hand count then? I guess this works both ways.

When they recount they usually do it using the optical scanners... you have to specifically request a hand recount.