Three Democrats have asked a state court to force Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) to take up their ethics complaints accusing three members of the State Election Board of holding an illegal meeting and overstepping their legal authority by passing rules that critics say will sow chaos and uncertainty in the presidential race.
The Democrats filed a petition late Tuesday in Fulton County Superior Court claiming that Kemp is required to hold hearings on the matters and to remove the board members if he finds they violated state law.
“We have a board that appears to be running amok, and we have one avenue, the governor, for removing them in instances when they are breaking the law,” said Cathy Woolard, a former chairwoman of the Fulton County Board of Registration & Elections. “We simply must take this action in order to attempt to force him to do his job.”
At issue are three avowed supporters of former president Donald Trump who in May took control of the five-member state election board and immediately began passing a flurry of rules that prompted an uproar of criticism from state and local election officials and from Republicans and Democrats.
One of the rules allows county boards to launch “reasonable inquiries” before certifying their results if they believe irregularities occurred. Critics say the rule could empower rogue county boards not to certify their results and would most certainly encourage mistrust in the presidential outcome.
Another rule, approved Friday, requires all counties to hand-count the number of ballots cast in each precinct on election night or the following day.
The offices of Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Attorney General Chris Carr, both Republicans, have come out against the rules. Carr’s office issued an opinion stating that the election board had overstepped its authority by passing rules that go beyond what state law allows. The rules are “likely the precise type of impermissible legislation that agencies cannot do,” the memo stated.
Also at issue is a July 12 meeting of the state board attended only by the three pro-Trump members, about which Woolard filed an ethics complaint claiming that the meeting was not properly advertised in advance and did not feature an in-person quorum. Board staff also advised the board members that the meeting had not been properly noticed.
Kemp has taken no action on the complaints except to seek advice from Carr, whose office issued an opinion saying that state law is ambiguous about what constitutes a “formal” ethics complaint, which state law says must be investigated.
“This is political cover for him,” said state Sen. Nabilah Islam Parkes (D), who also filed an ethics complaint and is a party to the legal petition filed in court Tuesday. “He doesn’t want to engage in this, I think because he will get blowback from Donald Trump.”
A Kemp spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.