Certifying Georgia’s election? Not optional
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Plus, Ron DeSantis threatens prosecution for political ads he disagrees with
You’ve heard a lot from us about why certification is “ministerial” and therefore not something election deniers can — legally speaking — succeed in blocking. This week, a key court in Georgia agreed. The Fulton County Superior Court declared, unambiguously, that a county election official’s duty to certify elections is mandatory under state law.?
Per the Washington Post’s Amy Gardner, this represents a significant “defeat for allies of former president Donald Trump who sought to empower local leaders to hold up the outcome of the vote this year.”
Certification is likely to be ground zero for subversion efforts
It’s not an optional thing, whether or not to certify an election.
Like the scorekeeper in a basketball game, a certifying official’s only job is to faithfully and accurately record the tally, not to relitigate whether a foul was really a foul. (This metaphor goes further: There are also “referees” in our system of elections, mostly the courts, but that’s separate from certification.)?
I asked Peter Simmons, who leads our work in Georgia, for his view:?
This case was quite important simply because it — and others like it — sit at the heart of Donald Trump and his allies’ game plan to overturn election election results if they don’t go their way. They want to carve out space for their allies and supporters to blatantly throw out results they don’t like.?
In this case, we and others — on behalf of the Georgia NAACP, the People’s Agenda, and the Georgia League of Women Voters — filed an amicus brief explaining the context of the case in post-2020 attacks on certification, as well as how an adverse ruling would risk disproportionately disenfranchising Black voters. (If you’re so inclined, you can find that brief here.)?
You can find Judge McBurney’s ruling here, but the last couple sentences summarize the main issue pretty well.?
What’s at stake in this case, and others like it, is nothing short of who gets to pick the president. Election officials don’t get to decide — the voters do.?
(If you want to read all about Georgia’s election certification processes and guardrails, boy do we have a four-page guide for you. Find it here. Other states here.)
Ron DeSantis takes aim at TV stations for airing a political ad
Last week, we sent a letter to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and other state officials expressing alarm that Florida’s efforts to silence supporters of Amendment 4 — which would establish a right to abortion in the state — amount to an unconstitutional abuse of power targeting Floridians who disagree with him.?
I asked Shalini Goel Agarwal, who leads much of our work in Florida, for a brief summary of what’s happening.