Judge McBurney Cites Jan. 6 as Reason for Stopping Georgia Hand Count Vote

An Atlanta judge has blocked a new rule that would have required Georgia ballots cast in this election to be counted by hand.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney wrote that voters still have a memory of the January 6 riot at the Capitol, in which former President Donald Trump’s supporters tried to stop Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s election win.
“This election season is fraught; memories of January 6 have not faded away, regardless of one’s view of that date’s fame or infamy. Anything that adds uncertainty and disorder to the electoral process disserves the public,” he wrote in his decision on Tuesday.
In September, the Republican-led State Election Board (SEB) voted the rule stipulating that election workers in Georgia must count each ballot by hand.
Democrats have accused Republicans of trying to introduce a flurry of new rules to delay and confuse the count process in a crucial swing state in the presidential election.
McBurney noted that the rule initially looks like a good idea but it will lead to confusion.
“On paper, the Hand Count Rule—if properly promulgated—appears consistent with the SEB’s mission of ensuring fair, legal, and orderly elections. It is, at base, simply a check of ballot counts, a human eyeball confirmation that the machine counts match reality,” he wrote.
“But that is not what confronts Georgians today, given the timing of the Rule’s passage. A rule that introduces a new and substantive role on the eve of election for more than 7,500 poll workers who will not have received any formal, cohesive, or consistent training and that allows for our paper ballots—the only tangible proof of who voted for whom—to be handled multiple times by multiple people following an exhausting Election Day all before they are securely transported to the official tabulation center does not contribute to lessening the tension or boosting the confidence of the public for this election.”
Newsweek has contacted the SEB via email for comment.
In Tuesday’s ruling, McBurney wrote that the hand count rule “is too much, too late” and granted a temporary injunction while he considers the issue further.
“Clearly the SEB believes that the Hand Count Rule is smart election policy—and it may be right. But the timing of its passage make implementation now quite wrong,” the judge said.
He added it might work in a subsequent election, once staff had training.
“Perhaps for a subsequent election, after the Secretary of State’s Office and the 150+ local election boards have time to prepare, budget, and train — but not for this one,” he wrote.
The Republican-led State Election Board introduced the rule in September requiring that three poll workers each hand-count each ballot after the polls close to make sure they match the results from voting machines.
The election board in Cobb County, in Atlanta’s suburbs, sought an injunction against the hand count rule.
Early voting began in Georgia on Tuesday.
Gabe Sterling of the Georgia secretary of state’s office wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday that more than 328,000 ballots were cast on Tuesday. The previous first day record was 136,000 in 2020, Sterling noted.
According to the Georgia government website, any registered voter may cast an early ballot.
It states that early voting “can help Georgia voters avoid crowds or find a time to vote that’s better for their schedules in the weeks prior to Election Day.”
“Unlike Election Day, you do not have to vote at an assigned polling location during early voting. You may vote at any early voting location within your county,” it adds.
Early voting will now take place every working day and the second and third Saturdays before Election Day. Some polling locations may be open on the second and third Sundays. Early voting ends on the Friday immediately before Election Day.