Atlanta – This morning, before the Trump-backed Georgia State Election Board meeting began, Georgia leaders called out its efforts to change the Peach State’s election rules with less than 100 days to go until the election. The meeting comes after Trump praised several of its members by name at his Saturday rally in Atlanta, where Trump thanked them for their work to change Georgia’s election certification rules.

The board’s meeting takes place on the anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, reminding everyone how the struggle for voting rights continues and how important it is to pass federal legislation like the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act that could restore critical protections from the VRA.

“Trump-backed state election board members want to change our election rules to give power to local elections officials to halt the counting of votes and slow down or refuse certification if they say there are any irregularities, making the certification of election results discretionary. This isn’t an exaggeration — in 2020, a Coffee County elections official delayed certification of President Biden’s victory, refusing to validate results and using false election conspiracies as the reason. These certification rules directly conflict with Georgia law, which states in multiple places that local election board officials shall perform their duties – meaning their duties are mandatory, not discretionary,” said Rep. Sam Park, Georgia House Democratic Whip.

“These new election rules being considered by the State Election Board have been advanced by the Georgia Republican Party and Republican National Committee operatives, who provided some rules text and talking points to at least one board member. Trump and his allies are trying to rewrite Georgia elections rules with less than 100 days to go. Georgia, we've seen Donald Trump and his allies tricks and lies before. They're trying to confuse us, make us feel discouraged, and ultimately make it so our votes don’t count. This time, we’re ready. We’re going to know our rights, we're going to vote in big numbers, we're going to fight for our votes to be counted, and we're going to win again,” said Rep. Ruwa Romman.

“The Georgia Election Board’s actions today are a modern form of age-old voter suppression tactics, posing as administrative rule changes. On this anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, we find it ironic and deeply troubling that we are compelled to defend the foundational rights it secured. We come from descendants of freedom fighters…my father walked the Edmund Pettus Bridge with John Lewis. Georgia already has a process to verify, count, and review each and every ballot – if we wanted to change the law, we would have a special legislative session. MAGA may have hijacked the Republican Party, but they will not hijack our elections process,” said Rep. Inga Willis.

FOOTAGE: Footage of Rep. Sam Park, Rep. Ruwa Romman, and Rep. Inga Willis’ remarks can be viewed and downloaded here. Please feel free to use this footage without attribution.

Context: Some of the proposed rules, which have been advanced by the Georgia Republican Party and Republican National Committee operatives, who emailed rules text and talking points to a board of election member, could be used to delay and obstruct the certification of Georgia’s 2024 election results.

The ‘Heekin’ proposal, up for consideration today, would change Georgia election rules around the certification of election results by giving more power to local elections officials to stop the counting of votes and delay or refuse certification altogether if these officials believe there are irregularities. These changes essentially make the certification of election results discretionary. But, Georgia law states that local election board officials shall perform their duties. Their duties are mandatory, not discretionary.

Trump has tried to use tactics to delay certification before in Georgia. In 2020, a Coffee County elections official delayed certification of President Joe Biden’s victory, refusing to validate recount results and using Trump-backed false election conspiracies as the reason.

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