The Georgia Election Board has approved a new rule requiring election workers to hand count ballots in the November election and confirm that the numbers match machine counts before the vote can be certified.
The rule, which was first proposed in August, passed in a 3–2 vote on the morning of Sept. 20, making Georgia the only state in the union to adopt such a requirement as part of its standard vote-counting.
The new hand-count regulation was, at the time of reporting, the first of 11 that the board was set to vote on Friday. The others include a proposal that absentee ballots be visually distinct from other types of ballots, and another that requires poll workers to record the number of ballots cast from in-person scanners and reconcile those numbers to ensure accurate reporting of votes.
Advocates have framed the proposed rules as common-sense measures to bolster election security. Supporters of the hand-count rule, specifically, have argued it would help increase public trust in the voting process.
