Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign is celebrating after a Georgia judge temporarily blocked a rule that would have forced election officials to count ballots after they were recorded by machine.
“From the beginning, this rule was an attempt to delay the election results to sow doubt about the outcome, and our democracy is stronger because of this decision to block it,” said a joint statement to several media outlets.
“We will continue to fight to ensure that voters can vote knowing it will count.”
The brief comments were released by Georgia Democratic Party Chair Rep. Nikema Williams, D-Ga., DNC Executive Director Monica Guardiola and Harris-Walz Deputy Campaign Manager Quentin Fulks.
GEORGIA GOP CHAIR SHARES DUPLICATE ELECTION STRATEGY AS TRUMP WORKS TO WIN BACK THE PEACH STATE
Vice President Kamala Harris’ 2024 campaign is celebrating Tuesday night’s Georgia court ruling. (Getty Images)
The joint statement praising the decision is a reflection of how state and national Democrats have opposed the new measure.
Scheduled to take effect Oct. 22, the rule would require three county election officials at each polling place to manually count the ballots cast — not count the votes themselves — after the ballots had been tallied by machine.
It was approved on a 3-2 vote by the State Election Board (SEB), which now faces multiple lawsuits against the measure and other changes from the GOP-majority board.
FORMER DEMOPULUS US SENATOR ENDORSES KAMALA HARRIS, SAYS ‘PRO-CHOICE’ ELECTION
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney issued the ruling. (AP Photo/Ben Gray, File)
Democrats argued that the rule was created to deliberately sow division and uncertainty in Georgia’s presidential election — which was decided by fewer than 12,000 votes in 2020.
In Tuesday night’s ruling, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney did not question the intent of the rule itself, but criticized the SEB’s decision to make changes so close to Election Day.
He noted that no training has been implemented or developed to prepare election workers for the new process, nor have funds been allocated for this purpose.
“The administrative chaos that will ensue – it cannot – is completely inconsistent with the obligations of our election boards (and the SEB) to ensure that our elections are fair, legal and orderly,” McBurney wrote.
DEMS AGRICULTURE CHAIRMAN UNVEILS MESSAGE TO DECIDING DEMOCRATIC VOTERS AT WORK HARRIS WORKS TO BUILD BROADBASE
Georgia GOP officials and allies of former President Trump have touted the rule as a fair guardrail to increase voter confidence in the election process.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
McBurney wrote that the rule “on paper” seemed consistent with the SEB’s goal of ensuring fair and legal elections, but added any new measure “allows our ballots — the only tangible proof of who voted for whom — to be manipulated multiple times by many people after a grueling election day before being transported safely to the official registration center does nothing to reduce tension or boost public confidence in this election.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment on the decision.
