A bill heard before a Georgia Senate committee Wednesday could allow a Donald Trump-aligned state board to strike thousands of challenged voters from the state’s rolls and would require polling officials to count the number of ballots by hand.
The 26-page House Bill 397 is a wish list from Republicans, including three GOP members who control the State Election Board. The board adopted a series of rules amid intense scrutiny last year, only to see a state court judge throw out most of them, finding that the board had overreached its legal authority. An appeal of that ruling was argued last week before the Georgia Supreme Court.
Supporters of the bill say poll workers need to make sure the number of ballots collected on Election Day matches the total counted by ballot-scanning machines and that the State Election Board needs to hear appeals of challenged voters because counties are turning down thousands of challenges.
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