Within the next seven weeks until Election Day Today, explained The podcast will examine the major themes of the 2024 election by looking at each of the seven swing states. We’ll hear from voters in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan and North Carolina and dive deep into issues like abortion, rural voter concerns and economic pressures for retirees and Latino voters. We’re kicking it off with Georgia, where “election security” efforts are once again at the forefront for officials and voters.
For months, Georgia’s top-ranking Republican leaders have been speaking out against an opaque, unelected board that passed a series of controversial rule changes that could make it harder and easier to know who won the state in a potentially close race. Attempts to dispute election results.
According to WABE reporter Sam GreenglassA rule allows local election board members to prevent votes from being counted at the center if the board members identify irregularities pending investigation. And if board members believe the error cannot be corrected, the board “shall determine a method to fairly count the votes.”
Secretary of State of Georgia Brad Raffensperger said Change in rules of certification process which have been advanced by the Board “Misleading” and “will delay election results.”
“What they’re talking about is breaking ballot boxes,” Raffensperger said NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly said In an interview last week about new rules that allow local election board members to review large amounts of documents before certifying election results. “Instead of [counting votes] In a secure warehouse and under the supervision of the County Election Director … this will happen at the precinct level.”
Former President Donald Trump, who in 2020 Tried to push Georgia officials celebrated the board change to flip the state in his favor after the state lost Electoral College points to President Joe Biden. “They’re doing a great job,” Trump said August “All three members are pit bulls fighting for integrity, transparency and victory.”
The board voted to pass on Friday Some more rule changes. D change Paper ballots require polling places to be counted by hand, significantly slowing down the reporting process; providing more access for poll observers; Post daily updates on the number of people in each county to cast a ballot; and post ballot reconciliation reports on a county website.
The latest round of changes is already facing scrutiny; Georgia Attorney General Chris CarrA Republican, wrote a Letter to State Election Board Before their meeting, they warned that the proposed rules were “not attached to any law — and, therefore, likely specific types of unauthorized legislation that agencies cannot do.”
To better understand whether actions by election boards like Georgia’s will impact upcoming elections, Today, explained Talks with co-host Noel King David J. Baker. He is the founder of the Center for Election Innovation and Research and has served as lead counsel on major voting rights cases, including Supreme Court cases. Georgia v. Ashcroftwhich deals with the redistricting of Georgia.
A partial transcript of their conversation, edited for length and clarity, follows. Listen to the entire conversation Apple Podcasts, SpotifyOr wherever you find podcasts.
Noel King
David, we heard about this rule change that the Georgia State Board of Elections is trying to pass. They may, we understand, make it easier to debate election results. How much is it a threat to the electoral integrity of the state?
David J. Baker
Georgia’s Board of Elections has some oversight responsibilities to direct counties and county boards to conduct elections, but they have no authority to actually certify votes. And it’s important that we understand what the voter certification is in each state.
Certification is a non-discretionary ministerial act to give legal effect to an election. That’s not to say there isn’t an opportunity to bring legitimate legal challenges if a candidate or campaign feels there’s been a problem. But there is another way for this. And that path is through the courts where they have to bring evidence and they have to scrutinize and cross-examine that evidence. And the court has to hear it.
This is not the place for political appointees like the Georgia State Board of Elections to decide they don’t like elections. So the reality is that the State Board of Elections’ efforts aren’t going to change the fact that whoever wins Georgia’s electoral votes will get those electoral votes. However, it can be used by a losing candidate to spread false information and lies that an election was stolen.
Noel King
What happens after voting? What safeguards are in place to ensure that all these votes are counted?
David J. Baker
Georgia has all paper ballots. They have audits of those paper ballots to make sure the machines counted them correctly and contains the initial certification date of Georgia. Counties must certify their votes — again, just reporting to the state, “These are the votes We legally say these are votes.” And let the state then certify. So if there are any counties or any county board members who decide they have the power to override the will of the people of Georgia and want to delay that effort, the state will be able to act quickly on Nov. 12 to force them to certify. .
Other attempts to do so have been made in states such as New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and Michigan. And they have been dealt with swiftly and decisively on a bipartisan basis. Georgia is ready to do the same.
It will be resolved here before the main deadline, which is December 11 in the presidential race. Dec. 11 is the date that the new voter count reform law passed by Congress in 2022 requires voters to “verify.” “Which means that the governor has to sign a document that the electors will go to whoever wins in a given state. And I’m 100 percent confident that Georgia, and indeed all states, will be able to work past efforts to destabilize an election and ensure that their states Their electors, who voted for the losing candidate, will not be disenfranchised in the presidential race and their electors are counted.
Noel King
What should voters look out for this year on Election Day and the day after? Not just Georgia, but the whole country?
David J. Baker
First, we are not surprised if a given candidate wins. Given how closely divided we are and especially how emotions are running high, we’re going to see a lot of turnout. And that means we should expect election day and night that election officials will work incredibly hard to answer the one question on all of our minds, who won?
But we should also recognize that they are doing very complicated ballot counting in every jurisdiction in this country. There are dozens of races on this ballot, not just presidential races, not just Senate races in some states, not just congressional races, but state races, local races. County Race. Ballot measure. There are places where dozens of races have as many as six pages on the ballot. And so we should expect that we won’t know who won on election night because it takes some time, especially when the margin is so narrow, to count all the ballots.
This is one thing that election officials have no influence over – the margin of victory. And if the margin of victory is extremely narrow, it may take several days to get to where the media calls it. And that media call is informal. But this is what we often think of as the decisive call. So we have to be patient.
I think we should also expect that there is a very strong possibility that a defeated candidate could declare victory on election night and spread lies about the process. And we should ignore that. If you hear a candidate claiming victory on election night before they win, you should know that that candidate thinks they lost because a candidate who thinks they won has every incentive to support the legitimacy of the process.
Noel King
David, although you sound very calm because there are safeguards in place to make sure the election is certified, the votes are counted, it sounds like you also have some concern that even though everything should go well, it could go wrong.
David J. Baker
What I worry about is that we may have to prepare for an all-out assault on reality, a reality in which a candidate may lose. I mean, we saw it happen in 2020. Donald Trump lost the election. It wasn’t particularly close. And yet, there are millions who have believed the lie and that illusion has persisted for four years.
We should make no mistake that those who believe the lie, those who supported the former president, are the targets of this long-term suffering. I have deep sympathy for those who voted for a defeated and sincerely disappointed candidate. That is most of those people.
Unfortunately, the former president and many around him have targeted them for long-term grudges, cashing in on their frustrations and lying to them about the results of an election he lost. So I think we have to be prepared for the possible possibility that if former President Trump loses – and anyway, he could legitimately win. And if he does, I will be the first, as I said in 2016. But if he loses, I think we should expect to hear a significant amount of misinformation and lies about that election intended to keep his supporters angry and possibly violent, and certainly donating.
