New emails obtained by Rolling Stone and American Doom reveal how conservative Georgia election officials laid the groundwork for new controversial state election rules designed to give more power to those officials to arbitrarily refuse to certify election results. Months before the Georgia State Election Board passed the rules, emails show a Donald Trump -supporter on the board solicited a wish list from conservative county election officials of the materials they would need. “Thank you all for agreeing to provide input on this proposed Rule for Certification Documents needed for Superintendents prior to certification,” Dr.
Janice Johnston, the Georgia State Election Board member, wrote on May 12. “What documents and reports do you need to certify the election results?” The documents, obtained through a public records request, show specific election materials that Gwinnett County election board member David Hancock claimed he needed in order to certify results of the May 2024 primary. The materials he mentioned are reflected in the two controversial rules recently passed by Johnston and two pro-Trump colleagues on the State Election Board that give broad power to officials like Hancock to refuse to certify election results.
One hundred years of Georgia case law has made clear that the duty of county election officials to certify results is a “ministerial” task, not a discretionary one, election experts and Democrats say. Still, election deniers like Hancock who .