Georgia’s Supreme Court on Tuesday blocked a Republican effort to require poll workers to count votes by hand, upholding a lower court’s ruling.

A judge in Georgia previously blocked a State Board of Elections rule requiring counties to hand count ballots on Election Day. The Republican National Committee (RNC) and the Georgia Republican Party have filed an appeal with the state Supreme Court, seeking swift reinstatement of the rule amid ongoing legal challenges, Politico reported. reported.

The Supreme Court denied a request from the RNC to halt the case for expedited review, deciding instead that it would be handled in the normal manner once scheduled. According to on court documents. Politico reported that the unanimous ruling ensures that the mandate, introduced by the State Board of Elections, will not go into effect for the November election, despite efforts by Republicans to reinstate it. said.

“Having considered petitioner’s motion and briefs filed by the parties and the court, petitioner’s motion for emergency supersedias is denied,” court documents state. “The appellant’s motion for early appeal has also been denied. Once the appeal is recorded in this court, it will proceed in the normal procedure.”

Georgia Supreme Court rejects emergency appeal of Republican-backed voting rules struck down by justices https://t.co/qmJNPCLjus

— Fox News Politics (@foxnewspolitics) October 22, 2024

The Georgia Supreme Court’s ruling is a victory for several election officials and poll workers who had warned that such rules would lead to widespread confusion, errors, and delays in reporting election results, Politico reported. It came to mean. The Republican-controlled State Board of Elections introduced hand-counting requirements in September, requiring poll workers to count ballots by hand in each precinct immediately after polls close.

According to the report, election officials will compare these hand-counted results to the machine-counted results before sending the ballots to centralized counting facilities. The state election board, a three-member board with close ties to former President Donald Trump, approved the move in a 3-2 vote despite opposition from local election officials and poll workers. Approved the rules. (Related: Election lawsuits could swing races in battleground states; we won’t know until the votes are counted.)

Supporters of the mandate argued it would strengthen election security by identifying discrepancies early and increase public confidence in the integrity of the results, Politico reported. But critics point out the potential for human error during the manual process, especially when poll workers are already overworked during the election season.

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