Democrats, with the backing of the Harris/Walz campaign, are suing to block the new GOP-backed election certification rules in Georgia, as Gov. Brian Kemp claims he's looking into whether he can oust the MAGA loyalists on the board for ethics violations:
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp (R) asked his state’s attorney general on Monday for “guidance” regarding whether or not he has the power to remove State Election Board members amid outcry over the changes being made to how Georgia elections will be administered in the run-up to the 2024 election.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Greg Bluestein reported on Monday that “Kemp’s office is asking the AG for guidance on whether he has the authority to remove members of the State Election Board. Voting rights groups, Democrats and even some Republicans have raised alarms about the rightwing majority’s recent votes.”
Bluestein shared a statement from Kemp’s office that read, “This office has received Senator Nabilah Islam Parkes and other’s letters alleging ethics violations by members of the State Elections Board. Due to uncertainty regarding whether this office has authority to act under Code Section 45-10-4 in response to these complaints, we have sought the Attorney General’s advice regarding the application of the statute to the letters. We will respond following receipt of this advice and further evaluation of the letters.”
As Rachel Maddow discussed in the clip above, here's what else is going on with the lawsuit:
MADDOW: The radical stuff that Republicans have been doing to the Georgia state election infrastructure means that Democrats need to try both to earn people's vote in Georgia this year in traditional terms, but Democrats also need to fight this whole other fight, to force the Republicans to actually consent to count the vote as well.
As of tonight, we know what some of the Democratic push back looks like. Quentin Fulks from the Harris/Walz campaign tells us this tonight.
“For months MAGA Republicans in Georgia and across the country have been trying to lay the groundwork to contest the election results when they lose again in November. But Democrats are prepared to stop them.
Certifying an election is not the choice, it is the law. A few elected extremists can't just not count your vote.
That's why we have case after case in court, fending off MAGA efforts to chip away at our democracy.
We will win this case too, and keep fighting so that every eligible voter can confidently cast their vote knowing it will count.”
And that statement from the Harris/Walz campaign as the Democratic Party nationally and in Georgia file this big push back, this big lawsuit in Georgia to try to stop what Trump Republicans are trying to do there to mess up the vote count.
Finally, a big Democratic punch back against, what thus far are the worst election shenanigans in the whole country, in state of Georgia.
Here's more on the lawsuit from CNN:
Democrats, with the backing of Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign, on Monday sued to block controversial new election rules in Georgia that they warned could lead to post-election “chaos” in the presidential battleground state in November.
The lawsuit, filed in Georgia state court by the Democratic National Committee, the Georgia Democratic Party and Democratic members of several county election boards, takes aim at two rules passed recently by the Georgia State Election Board that allow election officials to conduct a “reasonable inquiry” before certifying election results and permit members of county election boards to investigate ballot counts.
The lawsuit marks a significant escalation of a controversy that has been brewing for weeks over the action of three Republican members of the state elections board, who recently won praise from former President Donald Trump for their moves. [...]
Democrats are seeking a court ruling that makes clear that election superintendents do not have the discretion to delay the certification of election results or to refuse to certify the results altogether.
They are asking for the court to declare that “absent a valid judicial order to the contrary, election superintendents must certify the results of the November 5, 2024 election no later than 5:00 P.M. on November 12, 2024.”
The officials trying to steal this election for Trump ought to be tossed from that board. Whether Kemp does the right thing or not remains to be seen, but maybe Trump should have thought twice about going after Kemp and his wife earlier this month at a campaign rally.
