Thread by @lawofruby

The Georgia Election Board convened this morning at 9 am to consider several proposed rule changes, including one that would require hand counting of GA ballots. 1/

Another proposed rule they are weighing this morning would allow any individual county election board member to request any and all election-related documentation before certifying county-level results. 2/

Currently, we're hearing public comments from those who oppose these proposed rules. Wanda Mosely of Black Voters Matter just powerfully told the board, "With democracy on the ballot, you would think this body would be concerned . . . but instead, your actions suggest otherwise." 3/

A Forsyth County elections administrator is now telling the board that their proposed rule to require hand count of paper ballots by precinct is needless "busy work." 4/

And we're now hearing from Lynne Durham, a Gwinnett County resident who says she's in the political middle, but objects to the board's refusal to define the term "reasonable," which she says will result in "chaos" come November. "History has its eyes on you," she ends. 5/

What's notable about today's meeting is that many of the commenters are veteran election administrators, whose concerns are practical, not partisan. One just objected, for example, that the "chain of custody could be compromised" by requiring that so many hands touch the ballots.

Another county election administrator said one of the rules under consideration would set "159 counties up for failure" as well as additional costs that some counties cannot afford.

We've moved on to public comments on a rule proposed by Fulton County Commissioner Bridget Thorne that would "reconcile" the number of votes and the number of voters. She has brought with her three lawyers, including Ken Cuccinelli, who has not yet spoken.

Cuccinelli told the board he didn't "want to dwell on 2020 at all, because the other side was complaining in 2016, and . . . it's whoever loses complains," suggesting the 2020 election denialism was equivalent to concerns raised in 2016.

He continued, "I will tell you from my old prosecutor days, the best way to avoid problems is to make it clear to folks that you will catch the problems and fix them . . . [and] you'll hold people accountable."

We're now hearing from Salleigh Grubbs, the chair of Cobb County's GOP, who insists that the proposed reconciliation rule would do nothing more than GA law requires before complaining about the other side's "talking points" filtering down to county election officials.