Issue One denounces effort by Georgia State Election Board to undermine democratic process

In response to a measure approved by the Georgia State Election Board this week which appears to conflict with state law governing the certification of elections, Issue One released the following statement from Director of Election Protection Carah Ong Whaley:

“In Georgia and across the U.S., voters can be confident that our elections are safe and secure because they are administered by trained election officials at the state and county level who use sophisticated processes for counting ballots. Most importantly, election results are not finalized until election officials painstakingly count every ballot that is cast, check for duplicates, verify voter status, and give voters a chance to rectify mistakes that might otherwise disqualify their ballot. Election officials will never certify an election until every legal ballot is counted.

“The new rule adopted by the Georgia State Election Board this week attempts to undermine our democracy and rule of law by injecting partisan politics into a largely ministerial process. But as Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger astutely noted, state law requires counties to certify results no later than November 12, and the dedicated public servants who administer our elections are already working hard to ensure that every eligible ballot is counted fairly and accurately. These officials remain bound by the rules and procedures already in place.

“Any effort to erode public confidence in elections or block the will of the voters must be uniformly condemned and rejected by all who rightly believe that the real power of American democracy lies in the hands of the people.”